Yes, Mom
by DarkElements10
Summary: -Short Story- Kendall always wanted to make his mother happy, even if it meant getting hurt himself.
1. Chapter 1

**Yes, Mom**

**By: Riley**

**Summary ****– Kendall always wanted to make his mother happy, even if it meant getting hurt himself.  
**

* * *

Kendall winced as he lightly ran a hand over his face, touching the bruise that was appearing around his right eye. The skin was puffy and starting to turn red and it stung at the touch. He then lowered his hands to the hem of his shirt and lifted it up, staring at the bruising that greeted him. His ribs were a bit purple and the top of his hip was starting to turn colors as well. He was used to that kind of pain. Hockey taught him to get used to it.

But these weren't injuries from hockey. He wasn't allowed to play hockey until he brought his grades up. He wasn't allowed to perform until he brought them up either. That was a rule that his mother had come up with when she took over the job of becoming his and his friends' 'Momager'. It wasn't her ideal job, though she had wanted to be something more than a waitress. But now she was a mother to her two kids as well as to his three best friends. Things were getting tough for her so she had to crack down on them, to be sure that they knew the idea of hard work.

So Kendall let his grades slip a little bit. He didn't mean to, he was just so busy with performing and hockey and hanging out with his friends. School fell to the wayside, but his mother quickly reminded him that it was important for him to keep it up.

There was a light knock on the door and he lowered his shirt as Mrs. Knight poked her head into the room. She gave her son a gentle smile.

"I'm sorry for getting so angry, honey," Mrs. Knight reached out to touch Kendall's face. He flinched a little bit before allowing her to gently touch the bruise. "I just want to be sure that you have your education to fall back on, in case this band thing doesn't work out."

"It's ok, Mom," Kendall replied with a smile of his own. "You're just stressed."

"Do you need any ice?" Mrs. Knight asked, gently rubbing her son's cheek. "I'll get you some ice." She didn't allow him to reply before leaving the room.

Kendall turned back to the mirror and looked at his reflection once more. He reached for his face again, staring at the bruise his mother caused.

But he didn't mind as long as he made his mother happy, that was what was most important.

* * *

**A/N: **I had this idea for a while, a story where Kendall is being abused by his mother rather than his father. I've seen (and have done a few) stories where it was Kendall's dad that abused him and realized that no one had done a story where it was Mama Knight that abused him. I just wasn't sure what people would think of it, so I decided to do a one-shot to test the waters. I might extend it to make it a multi-chapter story, so keep your eyes peeled. Even though it was short, I hope you guys liked it.

Cheers,

-Riles


	2. Chapter 2

Kendall sat slumped over the kitchen table as his friends talked animatedly around him. He merely picked at his plate, silently. He didn't dare lift his eyes, knowing that if he did, he would start to get questions.

What was wrong?

Was he ok?

Why did he look so tired?

He didn't need or want the questions. So it was best if he just sat back and waited for breakfast to finish before they went to the pool or something. They couldn't go to Rocque Records because Kendall wasn't allowed to perform. James, Carlos, and Logan all said that they wouldn't go until he was able to go back. They were keeping their friend's back, being loyal to him. Part of Kendall really admired his friends for that, but another part of him was greatly annoyed. They didn't have to babysit him; they could go and do whatever they wanted. Weren't they the ones that made such a big deal about spending some time apart from each other?

"Kendall,"

Kendall immediately sat up when he heard his mother's voice. She said his name in a pleasant way, to get his attention, but she could hear the disapproval underneath it as well. She was one for good manners and good posture. The fact that he was slouching over the table wasn't either of them.

"You're not eating, honey," Mrs. Knight said, putting down her fork and knife. She reached out and laid a hand on his forehead, her skin cool to the touch. "Are you feeling ok?

Kendall grimaced. That was one of the questions he didn't want. Nevertheless, he gave a smile and a nod in reply. "I'm fine, Mom," he cut into a piece of his pancakes and took a bite to prove it. "I was just thinking about that homework that I have to do." He nodded once. "You know, to bring my grades up."

Mrs. Knight smiled and nodded back at her son. "Don't speak when your mouth is full."

Kendall swallowed before speaking again. "Yes, Mom."

"So how was it that Carlos managed to get better grades than you, anyway?" Logan asked, turning to Kendall himself. He had an amused smile on his face so Kendall knew that he was going to dig into Carlos, rather than actually want Kendall to answer. "Usually you're sitting at a B- while Carlos is at a measly C."

"Hey, I work hard to get my C's," Carlos said, pointing an accusing finger at Logan.

"Yeah, we're not all smart asses like you, Logan," James returned with a wry smile.

"I prefer, intellectual, thanks," Logan said.

"Whatever, intellectual." Kendall reached up and tossed his napkin into Logan's face. "C'mon, let's go down to the pool or something, we haven't hung out there in a while." He got up and started to clear his dishes, as a cue for the other boys to do the same.

"Kendall, you haven't finished your breakfast," Mrs. Knight pointed out, tilting her head back to give him a worried look. "I'm so worried about you; first you get bruises from roughhousing; now you're not eating well." Her cheek twitched. "Are you sure you're feeling ok? Do you want me to take you to the doctor?"

"No offense, Mama Knight," Logan spoke up. "But I think I would know if he needs to go to the doctor.

Kendall squeezed his eyes shut before lightly shaking his head. That wasn't the best thing to say. Coming between any mother and her concern for her son was, like, walking through a mine field. You didn't know when a bomb was going to explode, but you knew when it was coming. Kendall opened his eyes briefly. He could see his mother staring hard at Logan.

"No offense to you, Logan, but I think I know my son better than you," she then gave a warm smile, causing Kendall to relax. "But if you say he's ok, then he should be ok. Besides, if you all want to perform again, then he better be the bill of health."

"And you know how badly we want to perform again, Mama Knight," Carlos added as the four boys went to the sink to rinse off their plates.

"Probably just as badly as I want to watch you again," Mrs. Knight agreed, leaving the table. She watched the four boys, crossing her arms over her chest. "You know I'm proud of you." She said. "All of you."

"We know Mom," Kendall gave her a smile in reply. "Thanks." He walked over to her and gave her a hug, hesitating for a fraction of a second before his arms went around her. He then gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving the apartment with his best friends. He let out a sigh as soon as the door closed behind them. "How long do you think it'll take for me to bring my grades up?" He asked Logan.

"I don't know, Kendall," Logan shrugged. "You're getting a D in like, everything now. It's going to be hard."

"Don't worry," Carlos popped up next to Kendall with a smile so bright that it nearly blinded his blonde friend. "We'll help you get your grades up so you can perform again." He reached out and slapped Kendall on the back. But he miscalculated his hit so when he hit Kendall's back, his hand shot down, causing the hit to graze Kendall's side.

Kendall let out a yelp and his hands immediately moved to his side, causing Carlos's eyes to widen. James, who had been walking in front of them, even turned at the sound, his eyebrows lowering.

"Dude, are you ok?" James asked. Kendall nodded, biting his lower lip.

"Sorry," Carlos squeaked out an apology. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard."

"It's alright, Carlitos," Kendall removed his hands from his side and flung his arm around Carlos's shoulders. "Don't worry about it."

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**A/N: **Sorry this was a short chapter guys, the next one will be longer. As you guys can see, this story isn't a one-shot anymore. But while trying to flesh out this whole story idea as well as working on my other stories, it's gonna be updated slowly. At least slower than I usually update my stuff. Thanks so much for the support so far and I'll update again soon.

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	3. Chapter 3

Kendall could feel his spirits lifting as soon as they got the PalmWoods lobby. He could smell the chlorine of the pool, hear people splashing around. It just reminded him that he and his friends were living out their dream, to be technical it was James's dream, but Kendall grew to like it as well.

Of course there was that small, pesky thing about him not being able to perform. But the perks like the pool, some of the endorsements that they got, as well as being able to see how they have changed their fans' lives was all that Kendall needed sometimes. And what he needed today was just to sit and relax by the pool.

"Kendall,"

Kendal looked up and gave a short wave to his teacher, Miss. Collins, as she walked over to him. Kendall motioned for the others to go on ahead without him, before he turned back to the older woman. "Hey Miss. Collins," he greeted her. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm done fine, thanks," Miss. Collins replied. Kendall knew that something was up, her pleasant smile and sunny disposition were nowhere to be seen. In fact, she looked even more serious than the time she had assigned the boys detention, after disrupting her class, seconds after they had gotten out of the School of Rocque and into the PalmWoods School. "Kendall, we really need to talk about your grades."

"I figured that was what you wanted," Kendall said with a slow nod. "I know that my grades aren't really spectacular at the moment,"

"Kendall, you're getting Ds in everything," Miss. Collins interrupted. "And by this rate, I'm not sure that you can pull them up by the time the school year ends so you can "graduate" so to speak." She crossed her arms over her chest. "And you used to do so well before."

Kendall grimaced.

The only reason he had been doing so well before was because Logan had helped him on his homework. Not that Kendall didn't get good grades on his own; he did, but Logan was the one that helped him with his scheduling of when to do his homework and proofreading everything. Then Kendall threw that to the wayside, figuring he had a lot of time to do it. But then he lost motivation…there was a lot of things that factored into it.

"I'm just I a slump, Miss. Collins," Kendall reassured her. "Just like when the guys and I are practicing or something." He shrugged. "There are days where I do well and then there are days where I don't do well. I guys I'm just stuck."

Miss. Collins regarded him for a few moments, not saying anything. Kendall shuffled his feet, waiting for her decision. She was the kind of teacher that he really enjoyed having; nice, smart, helped each of her students whenever they needed help. But he just hoped that she didn't offer him help on anything. That would just make things harder for him. Things were hard enough, keeping secrets from his best friends and his little sister, but form a teacher…She was an adult, she could probably see things that he couldn't see, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

"I'm willing to offer you some tutoring sessions," she finally said.

"Oh, that's ok," Kendall smiled. "Logan already offered to help me."

"Logan already has his own work to do," Miss. Collins said evenly. "I can help you better than he can, I'm trained for this." She moved her blonde hair away from her face and studied Kendall hard. "Is there something bothering you, Kendall?"

Kendall mentally started to panic.

How did she know?

_Did _she know?

He was sure that he was being so careful. A greater part of him didn't know why he was freaking out. It only happened a couple of times, his mother was stressed, who wouldn't be if they suddenly have to move and then support five kids after she originally only had to support two? Kendall took a deep breath. He was freaking out over nothing, she didn't know anything and nothing was really going on. Yeah, he just had to keep telling himself that.

"Things are fine," Kendall replied as confidently as possible. "And, I think the tutoring thing is a good idea," he added. "But, we're going back to Minnesota soon, so we might just have to wait until after that to-"

"I can work out a schedule with your mother," Miss. Collins interrupted. "This is important, Kendall, it's your future. Your backup plan; every person that I've seen come through here and make it big, they were always glad that they had education as a back-up plan."

"You must have been working here for a while, then," Kendall remarked with a sigh. He looked at his feet. There was no way that he was going to get out of this.

"I'm not re-hired every year _and_ called the 'Best Teacher Ever' for nothing," Miss. Collins gave him a knowing smile. "Besides, I'm not so old that I don't know how to use a computer or Skype or FaceTalk or something like that. I can give you the homework that I except you to do while you're back home and we can work out tutoring over video chat or something."

"Or something," Kendall agreed.

"Good," Miss. Collins finally gave her winning smile. "I'll be sure to talk to your mother about this," she reached out and placed a hand on Kendall's shoulder. "We want you to be able to perform, Kendall. Everyone here is a fan, so am I, so are my kids. I just want you to be able to have all of your options open for you."

"I know," Kendall nodded. "Thanks."

He gave her another smile before turning and walking into the PalmWoods pool. He reached up his hands as an inflatable ball headed towards his face, and then heard Carlos's laughter. Kendall felt his competitiveness immediately spark. Kendall walked over to the edge of the pool and threw the ball back, grinning evilly.

"You better get ready Carlos," he declared, before pointing over at James. "Me and James are going to cream you and Logan this time!"

"Ha," Logan called back as Kendall went over to an empty pool chair to shed to his swim trunks. "You wish; the only reason you guys won last time was because of a technicality."

"You nearly drowned," James reminded Logan, treading water to keep his hair from getting wet.

Logan frowned. "I _slipped_," he replied.

"Whatever you call it," Kendall interrupted to short fight. "It's not going to help you this time, because we're going to win." Kendall pulled off his shirt and kicked off his flip-flops, tossing both of them onto a beach chair. He turned to get into the pool, but stopped when he heard his phone ring. Reaching over, he picked it up and saw that he had a text from his mother.

**Mom: Katie went to Rocque Records to work on another project. Please pick her up in about two hours.**

Kendall quickly fired back a text, telling her that he would be sure to pick her up, and then tossed his phone on top of his clothes. He tightened the draw string on his shorts before turning and doing a perfect swan dive into the water. Kendall popped back up and shook his head, flinging water off of his hair as he ran his hands over his face. He swam over to James as the two backed up to be on one side of the net that had been put up, while Logan and Carlos stayed on the other.

"Best bet is to try and make them try and dive for the ball," James said as Kendall treaded water next to him. "It'll be harder for them to get to."

"Got it," Kendall agreed. He raised a hand and gave James a high-five, before turning back to Logan and Carlos. "You guys can serve; we'll give you _something _before you're crushed in defeat." He stopped treading water and stood up, allowing it to come up to his stomach.

Logan made a sarcastic sound in his throat as he twirled the ball in his hands. "No one can say that you're not competitive, Kendall." He said before pulling his arm back and hitting the ball over the net.

James jumped up and hit the ball back over, making sure he put a little twist on it. Kendall laughed and James made a sound of annoyance as Carlos managed to lean to the side and hit the ball back over. Kendall bent his knees, holding his hands up above his head in the right position to get the ball set. He hit the ball up into the air and backed up as James moved over to try and take a spiking hit. The water was going to make it harder for him to get a higher jump, but he was going to try anyway.

That was what they liked about playing volleyball in the pool so much, it made the game harder. Plus, the fact that they had a bet going, the team that won the most games in the span of three months had the other two be their slaves for three weeks. And that meant doing anything, homework, chores, cleaning up after them, making them food when they wanted it, going out on errands.

Anything.

James managed to spike the ball over the net. It went flying towards Carlos, who cowered in fear, covering his face, but at the last second, rushed in an arc to the side and landed on top of the water behind them.

"Yes!" Kendall cheered, throwing his arms into the air.

He turned and he and James jumped up, doing a chest-bump, as Logan, scowling, went to get the ball. Carlos moved his hands from his face and then looked behind him to see Logan getting the ball. His shoulders slumped as he turned back to Kendall and James.

"You did that on purpose," he accused James.

"Moi?" James's eyes widened in innocence before his features melted into his charming smile. "Yeah, maybe, just be glad that the ball was inflatable or else you would have liens all over your face." He tilted his head to the side and watched as Carlos moved closer to his side of the pool.

"I'll give _you_ lines over your face," Carlos threatened. He surged forward and placed a hand on James's head, pushing him underwater.

"Not the hair!" James managed to cry before he was fully under.

Carlos laughed as Kendall pushed Carlos to the side and then splashed water in his face. Kendall then twisted away as Carlos sent a wave back towards him. Logan then joined in on the fight and the four of them splashed water around each other and shoved each other under water, trying to see who would make it out on top.

"Guys, come on," Logan said, shielding his face from another wave of water. "Let's keep playing."

The boys went back to their sides of the pool and started the game up again. By the time that they had decided to take a break, the score was tied 8-8 and it seemed like no one was getting the upper hand. There were a few spectacular shots that were made, that even caught the attention of some of the other residents of the PalmWoods pool. As their game had gone on, they drew enough of a crowd that they had started to cheer for either team to win.

Kendall pulled himself out of the pool and stretched his arms over his head. They felt like lead weights attached to his hands, his legs weren't better; they felt like weights too. He knew that most of the pain and tiredness was from…his mother, but he also knew that it would be worse if he wasn't in so much shape from being Big Time Rush for so long.

"Alright, who wants a smoothie?" James asked, holding out his arms in a welcoming gesture. "It's on me, this time." He added.

"Ooh, me!" Carlos immediately jumped on the offer. "I'll have a Banana smoothie."

"Pomegranate for me," Logan chimed in.

"I'll have-"Kendall stopped when he heard his phone buzz. He leaned to the side and grabbed onto his phone, illuminating the screen. His heart dropped when he saw a message from Katie.

**Baby Sister: I'm outside of Rocque Records, where are you?**

Kendall looked at the time stamp and saw that it was from ten minutes before. To be sure, Kendall looked at his watch. Yep, he was ten minutes late to pick up his sister. His mother was going to kill him!

"Oh no," He breathed, grabbing his towel and starting to frantically dry off. "I forgot to go get Katie!" He explained quickly as he thrashed around, trying to get his stuff together and get his shirt and shoes back on. "I've got to go!" He started to run out of the PalmWoods Pool, his flip-flops making clacking sounds as he went. "Don't get a smoothie for me, I'll be back!" He called over his shoulder as he went.

* * *

Kendall raced to Rocque Records as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast in flip-flops. He fell once, and scraped his toes another time as his flip-flop skidded against the ground. But he still managed to make it to Rocque Records to see Katie sitting outside on a bench, patiently waiting for him.

"Katie," he called as he ran up to her. "I'm so sorry I'm-"

"How could you forget to pick me up?" Katie demanded as soon as Kendall was by her side. "I've been sitting out here for a half hour, looking at my phone like an idiot!"

"I know," Kendall held his hands up defensively before he moved to sit down next to her. He winced as he moved his foot; his toes were starting to throb. "I know. I'm sorry I'm late. I was playing volleyball with the guys and I lost track of time." He reached out and hugged her to his side. "I'm sorry Baby Sister; I promise the next time I'll be an hour early to take you back."

"_And_ you'll buy me lunch and ice cream?" Katie asked, tilting her head up to look at him.

Kendall smiled. "And I'll buy you lunch and ice cream," he promised.

"Then everything's fine, Big Brother," Katie replied. "Was was winning the volleyball game when you left?"

"It's a tie so far," Kendall replied as he got to his feet, he started to walk back to the PalmWoods, but stopped when he noticed that Katie wasn't following him. "What's wrong?" he asked. His eyes then slowly traveled over to Rocque Records as a dark feeling washed over him. "Katie, you didn't call Mom did you?" He asked.

"Yeah, I did," Katie replied with a nod. "You were late and I was starting to get bored." She noticed the distressed look on Kendall's face. "Are you ok, Kendall?"

Before Kendall could answer, he heard the front door to Rocque Records open. He was afraid to look, but he did anyway. His mother strode out of the record company, her purse up over her shoulder, her right hand tightly holding onto the strap, her left hand swinging at her side. She looked straight ahead as she walked towards the two of them. Just by how fast she was walking, Kendall could fell that he was in a lot of trouble. When Mrs. Knight reached Katie, she reached out and grabbed onto her daughter's hand, practically yanking her to her feet, before she turned her attention to Kendall.

He could practically see the disappointment and anger run through her body to her eyes. He shifted under her intense gaze, knowing that if he said anything, if he tried to apologize, it would just make things worse.

"We need to talk when we get home," she said to him.

"Yes, Mom," Kendall muttered, exchanging a glance with Katie.

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**A/N: **Thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter as well as favorite and alerted the story. Your positive support is overwhelming I'll update again soon.

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	4. Chapter 4

"_All I asked you to do was to do was to remember to go and pick up your sister."_

"_I know, Mom. But-"_

"_And not only were your late, but I had to leave a meeting with Gustavo to go and get her before you actually decided to show up."_

"_But-"_

"_Do you know how embarrassing it was? Having to leave early? I already gave up my life back in Minnesota to support you boys, and now that I'm trying to prove to Gustavo that I can be a good momager and work with him and Kelly, I had to act unprofessional and leave a meeting early….It's not like I've stopped supporting you boys, I don't want you to ever think that, I just want you to understand that your actions don't only affect you. They affect everyone around you, too."_

"_Yes, Mom."_

Kendall opened his eyes and rolled onto his back. The room was dark and he could hear Logan's soft snoring in the bed across the room from his. Kendall was annoyed by that. Here he was, awake in the middle of the night, and there was Logan, sleeping like a baby. Kendall shook his head, and then winced, immediately regretting that decision. His head hurt like crazy, blood pounded in his head, his lip had been split open again, and he was sure that the bruising around his eye was getting worse. He should have listened to Logan when he first found him.

After they had gotten back to the apartment, Mrs. Knight had sent Katie down to the pool, and then started to berate Kendall for inconveniencing her. He was then shut off to his room for a short grounding. At the time, Kendall thought that he could get some packing done for Minnesota, but found that every time he bent over to get some clothes from his dresser drawers, or went to toss them into his suitcase, his head swam and he nearly fell over each time. He had given up on that quickly, opting to lie on the bed and read a hockey magazine. But not even his favorite sport could keep his mind off of what his mother did to him.

Again.

When Logan had burst into the room, he was asking why Kendall never went back to finish the volleyball game. Kendall had thought of not showing Logan what had happened to his face, but knew that it was useless. Even with James's cover-up (which he still wondered why he had it) Logan would notice that there was something wrong with him. It must have been his doctor instincts, for he was able to accurately predict Carlos's recent ear infection after he jumped into the water and landed the wrong way.

So, instead of verbally replying to him, Kendall figured that he might as well show him. So he lowered the magazine from his face and merely stared at Logan as his friend's mouth dropped open and he quickly sat down on the bed next to him, studying his face.

"What happened?" Logan asked.

Kendall knew that he couldn't tell the truth. It would just complicate things. So he told a half-truth. "I got into a fight," he replied. Logan gave him a disapproving look and Kendall shrugged. "Someone was bad-mouthing our band when I went to get Katie and I couldn't get him to listen to reason."

"Kendall," Logan sighed as he got to his feet. "You really have to work on your temper problem." He went over to his dresser and pulled out the top drawer, looking for something.

Kendall watched him, moving his arms behind his head. "I don't have a temper problem," he replied calmly. "Other people just have a terrible taste in music." He managed to smile, ignoring the pain that shot across his face. His back still turned to Kendall, Logan shook his head. "Come on, I know you think that's funny."

"It'd be funnier if it didn't look like your face got beat in by a Mack truck," Logan replied as he closed the drawer and finally turned back to Kendall. He walked across the room, opening a bottle of ointment. He quickly dabbed some onto his finger. "You know that Gustavo isn't going to be happy that you got into a fight."

"If I remember correctly, Gustavo saw 'the fire' in me when I got into a fight with security," Kendall reminded Logan. He closed his eyes as Logan reached out his finger and started to dab the ointment onto Kendall's cuts. "And look at us now; we're out in LA with two Gold certified CDs under our belt."

Logan grunted. "Whatever, Dude," he pulled back his hand and looked at Kendall with concern. "I just don't want you to get hurt anymore." Kendall blinked back at him, his face blank. "When that stuff dries, you might want to put some ice on, to keep the swelling down."

"Got it," Kendall agreed.

But Kendall didn't put any ice on. If he did, that meant he would have to leave his room and feel his mother's eyes on him as he walked across the room. She wouldn't be looking at him in disappointment; he could never disappoint her. He didn't want to see the sorrow, the guilt, the shame that was in her eyes for hurting him like that.

He couldn't bear to see that look.

Not again.

Kendall closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

* * *

**A/N: **The only reason this chapter is short is because I'm getting ready for final exams, which start at the end of this week. I hope you guys liked it and I'll update again soon.

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	5. Chapter 5

Mrs. Knight never thought that she would be the sort of person that would hurt her kids. And she had been proud of that. While they were growing up in Minnesota, she would watch parents of other classmates and notice how annoyed they seemed to be, others got divorced, she knew that some were cheating on the other, and then there were those that just acted like the other didn't exist when their kids weren't around.

But she prided herself of not getting to that level.

Even when she and her husband got separated, she did everything that she could to be sure that Kendall and Katie had the lives and the opportunities that they deserved. She didn't like it very much that Kendall went out and got a job when he was thirteen; he was supposed to be hanging out with his friends and getting in trouble. When he proved that he could do both and still maintain his grades, she allowed him to continue working.

She was proud of him for the most part, for stepping up and trying to help his family, but on the other hand, she was sort of disappointed in herself. She couldn't help her family by herself on her mealy wages from being a waitress; even if the tips were good, and she didn't want to admit that she needed the help. But that was Kendall, you couldn't show him that someone was having a problem and not expect him to drop everything and help them. She loved that about her son, but there were times that it got him in trouble too.

Still, she made sure that she didn't get too stressed out with everything that was going on. But she was going to be tested in a very unorthodox way. How many mothers could say that their son had the chance of the lifetime, made sure to include his friends on it, and they all had to move to LA? Not any that she knew, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that when Kendall got the job from Gustavo to make a demo in LA. He always loved to sing, and it didn't surprise her that he brought his best friends along to make a group. But she _was _surprised at how much work it was going to be to raise them in LA rather than Minnesota. In Minnesota when you were a teenager, you knew what you were supposed to do. You were supposed to go to school, get an education, and then go for your dreams after college. But in LA, you were expected to fit in, make great friends, and achieve your dreams _before_ you finished school.

It was overwhelming when she was constantly called by Gustavo or Reginald Bitters and was berated for something that the boys did. Broke something, ruined something, and made things hard for them. She definitely didn't have that problem back in Minnesota, at least not to that extent. She had a small feeling that the boys were letting the fame get to their heads and that was why they had a tendency to act like they could do no wrong. But she knew that wasn't true, everything they did, they did to help someone else, and though there was that time they had tricked the people from RCM CBT Global Net Sanyoid to give them a new crib because they hated their old apartment. That was a little selfish, but other than that time, they strived to make things better for everyone they could.

But with the harassment from Gustavo and Bitters and then the fact that her parenting skills kept coming into question in the magazines, it started to take a toll on her. She knew that she was a good mother, Kendall and Katie constantly told her that she was the best, so did Logan, James, and Carlos. But the more and more things that they did, the antics that they got into, that started to show up on the internet on ScuttleButter and MyFace, the more she was starting to get asked by it. She had been interviewed by _Parenthood _magazine at one point, asking whether or not if they had the opportunity, would she do it all again.

She wasn't sure. She could handle the success, but not the criticism.

It was the criticism that caused her to snap and hit Kendall the first time. She was reading about herself by some parents on ScuttleButter. They were saying things like; she was a bad parent by letting the guys run off to do a pipe dream, for having someone as young as Katie live in an apartment filled with boys, she was criticized for the way the guys behaved…everything seemed like it was her fault. And she just snapped.

When Kendall had come back from a day at the PalmWoods Pool with his friends, she had been waiting for him, ready to discuss some things that Gustavo had been telling her. That Kendall didn't listen to authority, that he always talked back, and whether or not he did something to try and fix something else, it never seemed to include Gustavo's and Kelly's feelings before he did it. Normally Gustavo's complaints wouldn't bother her; she knew that Kendall didn't respect authority on a small level, because his father was gone. But with the constant complaints, she had to say something.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Kendall asked when he saw the stern look on her face.

"I got a call from Gustavo, talking about your attitude again," Mrs. Knight replied as she slowly stood up from the couch. She crossed her arms over her chest and walked over to Kendall, giving him a chance to explain.

"Well, you know Gustavo, Mom," Kendall shrugged and gave his winning smile. "He doesn't listen when we try to say that there are some ways we want our CD or a song to go. And then when he tells us not to do something…" he shrugged and gave a sheepish smile.

She knew what he meant.

Boys will be boys; it was a habit of his. If he was told 'no' he just wanted something that much more.

"It's disrespectful, Kendall," Mrs. Knight said, after briefly closing her eyes. "Gustavo is the one that gave you the chance to come out here and you've done nothing but disrespect him left and right." She pointed over at the phone. "Do you know how many times Gustavo has called me to talk about you?"

Kendall started to answer, but Mrs. Knight beat him to it.

"Do you know how many people online say that I'm a bad mother because of the way you act?" She blurted. Kendall's eyes widened. Mrs. Knight sighed. She never told him about that, she didn't want him to worry, just as much as he was protective over Katie and his friends; he was fiercely protective of his mother. He didn't want her to be hurt any worse after Mr. Knight left and refused to pay child support.

"Mom, why didn't you tell me?" He asked.

"Because I didn't want you to worry," Mrs. Knight replied shortly. She then changed the subject. "And this is about you, not me. Kendall," she put a hand up to her forehead. "Do you know how difficult it is to take care of you and Katie and all of the boys out here while I have this much pressure on my back?"

"No," Kendall shook his head. "I guess I don't."

"And then to have to constantly hear about how you're behaving, it just makes me think that everything they say is true," Mrs. Knight continued.

"But, Mom," Kendall started to defend himself. "You don't understand."

"I never seem to understand, Kendall," Mrs. Knight said coolly. "Since you continue to do this over and over, even when I ask you to try and treat them better. I don't care how Gustavo treats you, he's your boss, you have to deal with that, or make a compromise, but you don't go and disrespect him back."

"Mom-"

Mrs. Knight snapped then. She was tired of Kendall trying to defend himself when it was something as simple as making a compromise to Gustavo for the two of them to get along better. She was tired of all of the pointed fingers, the screaming, and the criticism. She was tired of it all. She wanted it to stop.

Her hand reached up and she slapped Kendall on the cheek.

As soon as the sound echoed through the apartment, she knew that she made a mistake. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, her face mirroring Kendall's as he raised a hand and placed it on his reddening cheek. Neither of them could believe what had happened. Even when he was growing up and got in trouble then, she never even did as much as raised her voice to him.

Now she had hit him.

Tears immediately sprang to her eyes and she moved her hands over her mouth, shaking her head. Kendall dropped her hand and turned to her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. He had forgiven her in that moment; he wasn't going to blame her for it. She was stressed, he could tell. The stress was finally starting to get to her, after she had hidden it so well for so long.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized to him, hugging her son back.

"It's alright, Mom," Kendall replied.

But it wasn't alright. She had told herself that night that it would be the last time that she hit her son. But she didn't realize how bad her stress was. It wasn't a normal occurrence, but whenever her stress got to the better of her, she seemed to find a way to make it all Kendall's fault. When he had come back from the PalmWoods School with bad grades, she had gotten so mad; it was the first time that she had hurt him so badly. Then he had forgotten to pick up Katie and she was blinded by that anger as well.

Now here she was, sitting on the orange couch in the apartment, thinking about how she had hurt him again. She hurt him, then she grounded him, and he hardly ever got grounded. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what was going on, but she hoped some time at home, back in Minnesota and away from Los Angeles would be able to fix things and turn their relationship back to the way it was before.

Where she was a proud and supportive mother, she didn't feel so guilty after hurting her son, and she was would never have the thought of hurting him again.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you guys liked it and I'll update again soon.

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	6. Chapter 6

Kendall groaned, clutching his lower back as he dropped the handle to his suitcase. It was kind of pathetic, really, since he had been able to play a brutal hockey game with bruises all up and down his stomach and back and with a slight concussion. And now he couldn't move his stupid suitcase out of his room so he could leave and get on the plane back to Minnesota.

He tried to shake off the looming feeling of the nightmare that he had had that night. For whatever reason, he was in a glass box and everyone was walking by him, talking and laughing as if he wasn't there. But Kendall was screaming and banging on the walls of the glass, trying to get them to hear him. All of a sudden he could hear his mother's voice singing to him a lullaby that she used to sing to get him to get back to sleep, and then he felt nothing but indescribable pain as the singing continued. As he continued to scream and throw his body weight against the glass, trying to get everyone to hear or see him, the singing grew louder and he continued to be ignored.

He had woken up in a cold sweat and had trouble getting back to sleep since then. He was so tired that he was nearly falling asleep on his feet. But the thought of them all going back home was the only thing that was keeping him up for a while.

He stood staring down at the suitcase. Maybe he could find a way to get James to move it for him.

"Kendall, hurry up, we have to get going or we're going to be late for our flight," Mrs. Knight called from the main area of the apartment, no doubt counting every bag to be sure that they had everything that they needed.

"Yes, Mom," Kendall called back.

He crossed an arm over his chest and placed a hand under his chin as he thought quickly _what usually makes James get my bag for me? I could flatter him…but then I'd have to be careful about that so he doesn't think I'm coming onto him again. _Kendall nearly rolled his eyes at the tangent that James had gone on, saying that even if he did swing that way, he was sure that Kendall wasn't his type. It had taken him an hour to try and convince James that he wasn't coming onto him, but that didn't stop James from them going on to explain why Carlos and Logan weren't good for him…and to creep Kendall out enough, he went off on how he and Katie could be good together if Katie was older.

_Yeah, I'm not making that mistake again._

"Kendall!" Kendall heard Katie's voice behind him. "Aren't you excited? We're going back home!" Before Kendall could turn around, as he knew what was coming, he felt Katie's weight slam onto his back as she flung herself onto him. Kendall cried out in pain and twisted to the side, knocking Katie off of his back and onto his bed.

"Kendall, are you ok?" Katie asked, sitting up quickly. "I didn't mean to jump on you, too hard."

'No, that's not it," Kendall replied. He racked his brain, trying to remember what he had told Logan as to why his face was so messed up. "I just got into a fight with some people, remember?" He asked, turning to her, trying not to grimace.

"I thought they only hit you in the face," Katie replied with a frown.

"I thought so too," Kendall reached out and tickled Katie, causing her to laugh. "Just warn me the next time you're going to do that. You really scared me."

"Alright." Katie tried to catch her breath after laughing so hard. She batted Kendall's hands away from her and shook her hair out of her face. "I'll wait until your better…but then I'll go back to scaring the crap out of you." She smiled sweetly, though Kendall knew that that was her evil smile.

"Yeah, whatever, Baby Sister." Kendall replied, leaning forward and kissing her on the head.

"Kendall!" Mrs. Knight called again.

"I'm coming." Kendall called back. He let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping. He grabbed onto the handles of the suitcase and lifted it, dragging it out of the room, his muscles and bruises screaming as he did so. When he managed to make it to the main area of the apartment, he managed to keep his eyes away from his mother's as she walked over and ran a hand through his hair.

"Things are going to be so much better now that we're getting some time off," she said to him.

'Sure, Mom," Kendall replied, smiling a little. He looked around and noticed Logan, James, and Carlos asleep on the couch, snoring loudly. "What's with them?"

"They forgot that we had such an early flight so they tried to stay up until we left," Katie replied as she walked out of Kendall's room, her hands on her hips. She shook her head as she walked over to the three of them and then peered down at them. "Should I wake them up?"

"Yeah, we have to get going," Mrs. Knight replied, looking at her watch.

"Cool," Katie smiled, pulling her hair behind her ears. She leaned down towards Carlos's ear, opened her mouth wide and screamed so loud that Kendall immediately slapped his hands over his ears. Logan, Carlos, and James went flying off of the couch, screaming just as loudly as Katie had, their eyes darting around. Carlos even went as far as to jump up into James's arms. "You guys are too easy."

"What did you do that for?" Logan asked, whining slightly as he rubbed his face.

"We have to get going you weirdoes," Kendall replied, a smirk on his face. Carlos and James looked at each other before James turned and dropped Carlos onto the couch. "That never gets old," he added, holding out a hand for Katie to high-five as she walked by him. He flinched and moved out of the way as his mother light put her hand on his back. He turned and grabbed onto his suitcase. "I'm going to start putting stuff in the car," he said before moving out of the apartment as fast as he could.

He couldn't bear to look at his mother; he knew that she had probably hurt her by pulling away from her like that. But he couldn't have her be like that around him so soon, be so stressed out to hurt him and then to turn around and act like his mother. He needed time to get over it, he always needed time. It wasn't going to help that she was going to be sitting next to him on the plane. Then he was going to be so stressed out, not knowing if anything he was going to do would annoy her even more.

But he still loved his mother.

Nothing was going to change that.

Kendall yawned as he walked through the lobby. It was so early that not even Bitters was out of his office. Kendall and the guys had always wondered what was in Bitters' office. They knew that he slept there, since it seemed like he was the only building manager that worked there, but they weren't sure what he exactly had in there. Logan said that he probably had surveillance equipment of their apartment, because he always seemed to be around whenever they were doing something that could potentially give them a strike. That thought was sort of funny to him at first, but with recent events he hoped to god that it wasn't true.

"Kendall!"

Kendall turned around to see Miss. Collins standing behind him.

"Miss. Collins," Kendall gave her a smile. "What are you doing here?" he asked, looking at his watch. "It's really early."

"I had to come in and do some last minutes work on some of my lesson plans," Miss. Collins replied. She smiled. "But it's a good thing that I caught you. I talked to your mother and she said that getting some tutoring done over FaceTalk or Skype is a good idea." She shifted her feet. "Did she give you your homework?"

"Not yet," Kendall said slowly, shaking his head. "But I'm sure that she'll give it to me when we get home. We have to catch our flight." He looked around before looking back at Miss. Collins and lowering his voice. "Thanks so much for the help, Miss. Collins." He said gratefully. "I wasn't sure what I could do help my grades so…"

"It's no problem, Kendall," Miss. Collins said. "I'm glad to help." She then studied him carefully, a look of concern falling into her eyes.

Kendall's eyes shifted for a few moments before he looked back at her. "Um," he shifted his feet. "Is something wrong?" He asked. "You're kind of staring."

"No, nothing's wrong," Miss. Collins' bright smile came back. "Anyway, here's my cell number," she fished into her purse for a piece of paper. "Just let me know, after you get back to Minnesota, what time is good for you for some tutoring." She found the paper and handed it over. Unlike many other teachers, she had two phones to use; one for her husband and her family and the other for her students so she could help her students whenever they needed it.

Kendall would be grateful for it f it wasn't for the fact that he was starting to grow paranoid. His teacher wasn't stupid, she knew a lot of stuff that many other teachers didn't (she knew what ScuttleButter, MyFace, FaceTalk, Tumblr, and Skype where, she knew the most recent fads that teenagers went through, she even knew what was going dew on New Town High as she never missed an episode). If she knew all of that, he was sure that at some point of another he was going to figure out what was going on with him and that was the last thing that he needed.

"Thanks Miss. Collins," Kendall programmed her number into his phone and then called it to be sure that it was indeed hers. "For everything," he added before picking up his suitcase again.

"You're welcome," she replied with a warm smile. "Have a good trip."

"Thanks," Kendall maneuvered around her and walked his suitcase to the rental car that they used while they were out in LA.

He popped the trunk and moved his suitcase inside before sitting on the back bumper, his phone balanced in his hands. He moved through some of the numbers that he had in his phone. He could easily relieve some of his anxiety if he talked to someone about what was going on, but he knew that it would just make things worse. They probably wouldn't believe him anyway, probably make it seem like he was just trying to get some attention. The wind blew through his hair, pulling it out of his face, revealing his swollen eye. His eyelid was a little swollen so he couldn't see out of it completely, but it wasn't as bad as some of the other injuries that he ever had from playing hockey. But the reasoning of getting them just made it hurt worse.

Kendall merely watched as the others came out of the PalmWoods and put their stuff in the back of the car. Once everything was settled in, Kendall got into the back along with James and Carlos as Katie and Logan sat towards the front of the mini-van. They drove to the airport, checked in with security, and went towards the gate.

Once they got there, Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James stopped to sign autographs and take pictures with the fans that had been waiting for them. It helped Kendall take his mind off of what was going on for a while; no one even asked about what had happened to his face and he was great for that. He always enjoyed being able to see their fans and the fact that he was able to make their day, made his day as well. They stayed as long as possible, talking to their fans, before their flight was called and they boarded the plane. Kendall was in between his mother and his sister as Logan, Carlos, and James took the seats behind them.

The whole flight up, Kendall tried to drown everything out as much as he could with his music. He was even starting to relax, smiling as his mother had rested her head against his shoulder to use as s pillow as the flight went on. He looked down at her and his smile widened. He couldn't stay stressed around her, she was his mother and she was doing her best to make all of them have a good life while they were out in LA. So of course she was going to get stressed from time to time. And he did admit that he had a problem with authority and with Gustavo telling him what to do. He could make things easier for her and he was going to do the best he could while they were in Minnesota.

"Kendall?" Katie nudged her brother on the side. "What are you smiling about?"

"I'm just happy to be going home," Kendall replied. He pulled his phone from his pocket. "Hey, take a picture with me," he pulled up Instagram and then leaned to the side as he and Katie smiled. He took the picture and he quickly uploaded it to his ScuttleButter. He then took a picture of his mother and uploaded that one as well.

"It's cool that we're going back home," Katie said slowly. "But, could you do me a favor?"

"Do you want me to sign a bunch of stuff so you can sell it to your friends?" Kendall asked, already knowing what she was getting at.

"Yes, please," Katie grinned in reply.

"No problem," Kendall said. Even the thought of his sister exploiting him couldn't put a damper on his mood. They were going to be in a different city, back home without all of the stress, things were going to get better. He could feel it.

The flight landed, everybody got their stuff from baggage claim, and they then went back to their houses. Kendall grabbed his bag and went up to his room as fast as he possibly could. He tossed his bag to the floor before flopping down onto his bed, closing his eyes.

Home sweet home.

**A/N:** Thanks for the continued support guys and Happy Holiday! :)

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	7. Chapter 7

For the first time in a while, Kendall wasn't in pain when he woke up in Minnesota a couple of days later. It was probably from the snow that he and his friends had played in the two days before. As soon as they had gotten back to Minnesota and saw all of the snow, he, Katie, James, Carlos, and Logan all raced to get their snow clothes on so they could go out and play. He was sure that the swelling and everything had gone down because of the fact that he was packed in snow; that's what Logan would say anyway, but he wasn't too sure.

He didn't really care either.

It was the first time in a while that he didn't have to worry about it.

"Good morning, Mom," Kendall greeted his mother as he walked into the kitchen one morning. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before sitting down at his spot on the table. "What's for breakfast?"

"Just some eggs and toast," Mrs. Knight replied while standing at the stove. She turned her head and gave Kendall a pained smile. "I couldn't get to sleep so I thought that I would get a head start on the day and make some breakfast before going down to the diner to see if they need any help."

"But with the money that we're getting from Big Time Rush you don't need to go back to work," Kendall pointed out, raising an eyebrow in confusion as he grabbed onto his tumbler glass of orange juice and brought it to his mouth. "Remember? I even got you that necklace that you were looking at for your birthday with that money."

"I know," Mrs. Knight agreed. "I just don't want to have to be taken care of," she said with a short sigh. "I can take care of myself, you know." She added.

Kendall blinked, taken aback. He didn't know how the conversation had taken that turn. He then shrugged and gave a smile, knowing that his mother would forgive him in an instant. "Sorry, Mom, I didn't mean anything by it." He then looked at his watch. "But that's probably a good idea, Mr. Stayton, my boss back at Sherwoods, called as soon as he heard that we were coming back to Minnesota."

Mrs. Knight let out a laugh. "How did he know that you were coming back?"

Kendall shrugged. "The power of the internet?" He guessed. "I don't know; he probably has kids that are fans or something." He then gave a wicked smile. "Maybe that means I won't be stuck doing all of the bad jobs at work again."

"The only bad job that you can have is being a bagger," Mrs. Knight pointed out, turning back to the stove, using a spatula to poke at some eggs.

"My point exactly, baggers are at the low end of the totem pole at work," Kendall conceded. He took another sip of orange juice. He let out a cry of pain as Katie suddenly appeared at his side and punched him hard on the arm. "Ow! "He practically shouted. "What did you do that for?" He scowled as she walked around the table and sat down at her spot.

"That was for taking a picture of me and putting it on ScuttleButter without asking my permission first," Katie scowled back at him. "It's a horrible picture of me!" She glared even harder. "You could have asked first. I want to be sure that I look good."

"Ha!" Kendall laughed loudly. "Since when do you care if you look good in a picture?"

Katie opened her mouth to reply, but Mrs. Knight cut her off.

"You have to remember that she's growing up, Kendall," she said, gently. "And that, because of you and the boys, she was thrust into the spotlight as well. I'll post something to ScuttleButter now and all I get are ScuttButts asking about you or the other guys or what it's like working with Gustavo. Our life isn't the same as it used to be." She pointed out.

"Right," Kendall slid down in his seat. He could hear the warning edge in her tone. "Sorry, Mom."

"He put up a picture of you, too," Katie added. Kendall's eyes widened and he tried to get Katie to shut up, but she smirked and kept going. "The one where you were asleep on the plane."

"Don't worry," Mrs. Knight said slowly. "I already saw it." She turned off the burner under the stove and removed the pan, using the spatula to slide servings of eggs onto three plates along with the toast and bacon that was already set up. She picked up the three plates and balanced them before walking them over to the table and setting them down in front of her son and daughter before sitting down herself. "It was the first thing that I was aware of this morning."

"Sorry about that," Kendall tried to diffuse the situation. "I couldn't resist."

Mrs. Knight stayed silent after that one. The three ate in silence, but that wasn't uncommon in the Knight household. None of them were that great with being very perky in the morning the only one that really did that was Carlos. He could wake up completely filled with energy. Kendall had even seen him wake up and start bouncing up and down on his bed and screaming at the top of his lungs just because he was so happy to have another day to live.

"It's better than Carlos taking picture after picture after picture and spamming _all_ of our timelines," Katie said, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, it's like the guy has his phone attached to his hand permanently. When he's not calling Stephanie at least." She added.

"Carlos is Carlos, you couldn't tell him to change his shower habits without any problems," Kendall laughed. He leaned forward and started to eat as fast as he could. He could feel the tension in the room and wanted to get away from it as soon as possible.

"What's your rush, Big Bro?" Katie asked, her eyes widening. "I know that guys eat like horses, but this is ridiculous."

"I got to meet up with the guys," Kendall said, lying as quickly as he could. "We have a…pick up hockey game that we have to get to. You know, that one…team that we lost to before we went out to LA? Yeah, we're going against them." He continued to shovel his food into his mouth, only stopping when he needed his orange juice to help get the large lump of food down. When he finished, he practically leapt to his feet. "Alright, I'm done, I gotta go."

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

His mother's voice stopped him in his tracks. What else could he have done? He knew that his mother was going to be super pissed about the picture that much was obvious. But he didn't know what else it could have been. Did he forget to take out the trash? Did he forget to do something that he promised he would? There wasn't much to do around St. Paul, or the county that they lived in, and they just got back, so he didn't think that he had ticked anyone off yet. So what could it be?

"Don't you have to set up a time to get some tutoring done by Miss. Collins?" Mrs. Knight prompted.

Kendall let out his breath in relief. Ok, so that was it. He wasn't in trouble with anything else. _God Kendall stop acting like such a criminal You haven't done anything to piss your mother off, so you can stop acting as if you're afraid to see your own shadow. _He shook his head as he turned back around with a smile.

"I know, Mom," he said confidently. "I was going to do it as soon as I got back from playing hockey."

"No, you're going to do it now," Mrs. Knight said firmly.

Kendall's eyes shifted. What other excuse could he come up with to get out of the house? "It's just that, I promised Logan that I would meet him, and I don't want to be late-"

"I'm sure that Logan will understand if you're a few minutes late," Mrs. Knight insisted. "Go, I don't want your grades to drop even further than the already are. If you don't bring them up, you won't be able to hang out. You'll do nothing but schoolwork until you bring your grades up enough to perform. And _then _you can think about hanging out as much as you want."

"Yes, Mom," Kendall put his dishes away and hurried back to his room.

He picked up his phone off of the dresser and pulled up Miss. Collins's phone number. He paused as he stared at the number. He knew that she was right. If he had just focused on his school work in the first place, like he used to do, then things wouldn't be bad at this moment. But…there was so much stuff that got in the way, trying to help his friends and recording. It was definitely more fun than having to study for days on end. He hoped she didn't know that the past few weeks Logan had been doing as much of Kendall's homework as he could as Kendall tried to learn the lessons himself. If she found that out things would be even worse.

Kendall shook his head and pushed the 'SEND' button on his phone, bringing it up to his mouth as he put the phone on speakerphone. That way if his mother came by the room to be sure that he was calling, she could hear their conversation.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Miss. Collins, it's Kendall. I hope I didn't call you at a bad time."

"Oh, Kendall! No, it's a good time; actually, I was just reading the newspaper. How are you? How's Minnesota?"

"Nice and cold, just the way I like it," Kendall laughed in reply. "Actually, I called to ask you when is a good time for you to help me with my homework and everything." He reached down and messed with his shoelaces. "I have all of my school work with me and I'm sure that Logan and my Mom are going to be checking it while I do it so I might as well get started." He gave a half-laugh. "I have to improve my grades to perform, right?"

"Right," Miss. Collins agreed. "Well, right now isn't good, and then I have to take my kids to their lessons and everything. But I was thinking later tonight at…like…seven?"

"That's like, nine here, so that's good," Kendall agreed. "But I'll let you know ahead of time if I can't make it or if we need to reschedule or something."He added as an afterthought.

"That sounds fine," Miss. Collins agreed. "There's not much that I do other than school," she laughed to herself. "So I can reschedule whenever you need to. Like I said before, I want you to be able to perform again too."

Kendall silently nodded. It was weird to him, that she was the one that was being so nice to him, somewhat like a mother to him. His own mother was freaking out over the stress that she was feeling practically every day. He would have laughed it was funny. In a way, it kind of was, but it wasn't funny enough so that he could get some sort of satisfaction out of it. He was the main theme in this equation and the one that should be upset; he was wondering why it wasn't the other one.

"Are you alright, Kendall?" Miss. Collins's voice brought him back to reality.

"Yeah, why?" Kendall asked, putting the phone back to his mouth.

"You sound kind of weird," Miss. Collins said after a slight pause. "Sort of, I don't know, down. Like you're sad or something."

"Oh, no, I'm fine. Just a little tired. I only got up a couple of hours ago and unlike Carlos, I don't drink energy shots in the morning." Kendall forced a laugh. Although inside, he was mentally panicking. _Did she know? She acts like she really knows something's up. But I've been so careful; I don't know how this could have happened._

He looked up and spotted his mother standing in the doorway.

"Look, Miss. Collins, I have to go," Kendall said, glancing at her again. "But we can video chat tonight to do some homework." He said and hung up the phone, tossing it away. He turned back to his mother. "So, I got my homework schedule set up, can I go and hang out with the guys now?" He then noticed the look on her face. "What did I do now? Does this have to do with the picture on the internet? I'm sorry about-"

"Kendall, do you not get that your actions can affect others?" Mrs. Knight demanded as she crossed the room to him. She put her hands on both sides of his face. "I love you, but you don't think. That picture that you put up on the internet, what if my boss sees it?"

"Mom, it's just a picture." Kendall said. His face screwed up in pain as she tightened her grip on his cheeks. "God!" His eyes flashed open in rage. "Can't I do anything right? Or are you just worried about your precious reputation?"

Mrs. Knight glared at her son. "Don't talk to me like that!" she spat.

"Then why are you _always_ on my case?" Kendall demanded. "You're always yelling at me for something. It's not like everyone is going to find out about what's going on with my grades and everything. I know how to keep my private life a secret."

"You can keep it such a secret that I'm still getting disapproving looks and ScuttButts and MyFace comments and calls from people that heard about Dak's party?" Mrs. Knight hissed. "Yeah, I believe that." She scowled. "Ever since that party, you have done nothing but cause grief and get in trouble."

"You're acting like I planned this entire thing to happen!" Kendall shot back.

"Didn't you?" Mrs. Knight asked quietly.

"What?" Kendall practically spat.

"I mean, you're the leader out of the whole thing," Mrs. Knight's eyes searched her son's. "You're the one that's always coming up with these crazy schemes to help people or to get something to go your way." She removed her hands from Kendall's face and then put them on his arms, squeezing just as hard as she had done to his face. "So how can I believe that you weren't the one that caused everything to-"

"Mom, you know me better than that," Kendall said, his eyes narrowing as well. But on his end, his breathing was erratic and he was trying not to cry. His eyes became misty at the thought of his mother not believing him. "I would never do something that would cause what happened at Dak's party."

"You were there," Mrs. Knight said in a low voice. "And all of the signs point back to you." She shoved him onto the bed before smacking him on the lower back, causing him to cry out in pain. The ring that was wearing on her finger had manage to get to his skin through his thing t-shirt. "Everything always points back to you."

"Mom?"

Kendall and Mrs. Knight turned to see Katie standing in the doorway of the room, looking concerned. She looked back and forth between Kendall and her mother and Kendall was sure, just by looking at her face, that she didn't know what was going on. He let out a short sigh of relief. He didn't want her to find out, that would just make things complicated even further.

"Is everything ok?" Katie took a hesitant step into the room.

"Everything's fine," Mrs. Knight replied with a tight-lipped smile. "Kendall and I were just have a discussion over his school work," She said as Kendall slowly sat up, bringing a hand to his lower back. It stung as his fingers lightly touched the wound on his back. "We're just not seeing eye to eye on everything."

"Are you sure?" Katie asked, her eyes continuing to move back and forth from Kendall to her mother.

"We're sure," Kendall manage to say through a grimace. "You don't have to worry, Katie." He stood up and walked over to her. "Tell you what, after I get back from hanging out with the guys, we can go see and movie."

"Are you paying?" Katie asked, her eyes lighting up, already forgetting what they were talking about before. When Kendall nodded, she beamed and turned, walking away from the room. Kendall sighed and turned back to his mother, who looked even more tired than she had seen before.

"I'm so sick of having this kind of conversation Kendall," Mrs. Knight said slowly. "I'm so sick of you doing things that make me upset." She moved to walk out of the room. "When are you going to grow up and just do what you're supposed to do rather than test your boundaries?"

Kendall closed the door behind her after she left the room. He stood, leaning against his door for a minute, before he bent down and grabbed his sweatshirt off of the floor. He pulled it over his head, letting out a sound of pain as he stretched his arms over his head. He then grabbed his wallet and his beanie before walking over to his bedroom window and opening it. He stuck both legs out and stood on the roof, wobbling for a moment, before he turned his feet to the side and slowly shuffled his way down to the drain pipe. When he reached the end of the roof, he grabbed onto the rain gutter and swung his legs down so he dangled over the side of the house. He looked down, estimating the drop as he usually did when he snuck out, and let go, falling to the ground and bending his knees as he landed on his feet.

He stood there for a moment, waiting for the stinging pain to go away before he quickly walked across the front lawn and away from his house. He would go anywhere, rather than stay home. Even go to Sherwoods if he had to.

Just so he didn't have to look at the disappointment on his mother's face again.

* * *

Kendall sighed as he turned away from his manager's door, holding onto the familiar green apron that he had worn from thirteen years old to sixteen years old. He didn't think that he was going to go back to work at Sherwood's anytime soon, but as long as it kept him out of the house for a while, he could deal with it.

Kendall put the apron on over his head and moved to go outside to wrangle up some carts. He smiled a little when he grabbed onto one and started to return it to its rack. This parking lot was the same place that he and his friends had been taken to LA and it was also the same place where he had been offered to play on the all-star hockey team before he turned it down to go back to Big Time Rush. _Maybe it still has that luck for me. _He returned the cart and went back to the parking lot to grab some of the other ones that had been abandoned. He tried to be careful not to slip on the slush that was lying on the ground as he went. His pace slowed as he thought about what had happened between him and his mother earlier.

It was all so clear to him now.

She saw him as nothing but a disappointment. Ever since that stupid party that he had dragged his friends to. He knew that there was no way that he was going to fix things between him and his mother. Not as quickly as he hoped that he would be able to.

Kendall grabbed onto a cart by its handle and bent over so his head was resting on the cold metal.

He then started to cry.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope that you guys liked this chapter. I thought that it would be good to have Katie be a little worried, but just chalk it up to his brother and mother fighting. The reason I did this is because I've seen how boys that are more attached to their mothers can also get into fights pretty easily. So, I hope that you guys liked it.

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	8. Chapter 8

"Kendall! Could I please have your autograph?"

"Kendall, over here!"

"Oh my god, Kendall, why are you working here?"

"Where's James, Carlos, and Logan?"

Kendall willed himself not to drop his fake smile as he continued to push carts back and forth across the parking lot. About an hour after he had started his shift, a bunch of screaming girls, and the odd guy, had descended upon Sherwoods. They quickly found Kendall, noticing that he was a cashier at the time, and then had grabbed anything that they could in the store so they could get into Kendall's line. His manager was glad that they were selling more food in a one day than they would in a week, but he quickly noticed how unruly some of the fans got when one of them had leapt over the conveyer belt to get to Kendall when he was scanning her groceries.

So he had tried to get Kendall to do the job of cleaning up spills and bathrooms, but then the fans would continue to follow him around the store. Finally, Kendall was forced to go outside so he could wrangle carts, which was typically the job that he did before he became part of Big Time Rush. Though the job really sucked, he usually only did it so he could spend time hanging out with his friends and goofing off rather than actually doing work and getting paid for it.

But now it was driving him insane as the fans had been kicked out of the store and off of the property. That didn't help him much as they opted to stand across the street and continue to scream things at him. Normally it wouldn't bother him, since he loved his fans, but he wasn't nearly close to being in the mood to talk to them. And he didn't want to be rude about it, so he tried not to say anything in reply. He was never sure what to do in that sort of situation, and h was sure that he had made some of his fans upset, but with something like that, it was always a sort of lose-lose situation.

"Kendall!"

Kendall looked up from the cart that he was holding onto and stared as a teenage girl, a little bit younger than him, came charging out of the store. He could see that she was with her mother, so she was an actual customer. But he could also tell that something bad was going to happen. He tried to move the cart that he was holding onto in front of him, but the wheels were locked and it wouldn't budge. The girl could have tripped, he wasn't sure, but it seemed like she purposefully tackled him to the ground, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"Ow!" Kendall groaned in pain as he slammed to the ground. The girl continued to lie on top of him, screaming her head off and babbling questions and 'I love yous' while taking pictures of him. That seemed to cause the other fans across the street to think that they could jump him as well. Before he knew it, he was stuck underneath a group of teenage girls that were pulling at his arms, legs, and hair as well as shouting at the top of his lungs.

"HEY! All of you get out of here or I'll call the police!"

Kendall mentally let out a cry of joy when he heard the voice of his boss. The girls immediately scattered, although they were still chattering excited to each other. Kendall was partially glad that he landed on a bunch of snow, as he could feel his back throbbing with pain where his mother had hit him before.

"Are you alright, Kendall?" Mr. Stayton reached out and grasped onto Kendall's arm, helping him to his feet.

"Oh, I'm fine," Kendall managed a half smile. "I'm used to having my back completely pulverized by fans."

"Be that as it may, it seems like you could take a break," Mr. Stayton let out a heavy sigh as he looked Kendall over. "Why don't you take an hour for lunch, you look like you could really use it."

"Thanks," Kendall reached up and grabbed onto his beanie, pulling it off of his hair. He shook his hair out and went back into the grocery store, going back to the break room. Some of the older employees that worked there looked at Kendall oddly as they grabbed their stuff and left the room to go each at the in store restaurant. "Great," he sighed as he went to the refrigerator and pulled out his lunch.

It wasn't even that he didn't like the older employees, they got along great and they told good stories, but he could see that they were annoyed by his fame. It wasn't like he could help it, it was his job, and he enjoyed it a lot. He wouldn't give it up for anything.

"I seriously need to find a new place to work," Kendall muttered to himself as he opened his lunch and started to pull everything out. "Either that or just completely move out to LA, where the fans aren't early as crazy, and never come back."

Kendall was able to eat in silence for ten minutes before there was a knock on the break room door. He ignored it the best he could, until he heard his friend's voices from behind the door. He then leapt to his feet and threw the door open, grabbing onto his friends and pulling them inside.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked relief evident all over his face.

"We heard that you were being, like, attacked," Logan replied, brushing snow out of his hair. "So we came by to see if you were ok."

"More importantly," James chimed in. "If they were excited to see you, they should be _ecstatic_ to see me!" He laughed along with his friends as he pulled out a chair and sat down along with Kendall. "Besides, we stopped by your house and Mama Knight said that you were here."

Kendall froze for a minute. "Oh, well, I would have mentioned it but-"

"But there was that hockey game that we had to get to," Carlos aid calmly, reaching out and taking Kendall's bag of chips. "I guess we forgot about it." He turned to Kendall and raised an eyebrow. "You could have told us that you told her a story, we would have known to keep it up."

"Sorry," Kendall shrugged. "Mom and I were just having a fight and I needed to get out of there." He couldn't miss the looks that James, Logan, and Carlos were giving each other, but he didn't want to say anything about it.

"Kendall is everything ok?" Logan asked gently. Kendall looked up at him but didn't say anything. "I mean, first your grades drop like crazy, then you get into a fight with that guy, and then you and your mother are getting into fights." He shrugged. "It just seems like…" he trailed off.

"It just seems like what?" Kendall asked sharply.

"It just seems like there's something that's bothering you that you're not telling us." Carlos looked hard at Kendall. "We're your best buds; you know that you can talk to us if something is going on." Kendall nodded but continued to eat his lunch.

James leaned forward and rested his hand on Kendall's shoulder. He didn't remove his hand until Kendall finally turned to look at him. "Does this have to do with what happened at Dak's party?" he asked in a low voice. Kendall merely looked back at him. "Did your mom blame you for that? Don't worry about it, dude, it wasn't your fault."

Kendall took a deep breath before reaching out his own hand and placing it on James's shoulder, lightly squeezing it. He gave a small smile that made him look more like himself than he had been for the past couple of months, and then stood up.

"I have to get back to work," he said.

* * *

"So what do you think is going on with Kendall?" Carlos asked in a small voice as he, Logan, and James walked back to Carlos's house. They had left Sherwood's after helping Kendall with a few things on his job, but had attracted even more fans at that point so they obviously had to leave the store. "He really isn't acting like himself."

"I know," James agreed. "He didn't even want to duck out of work early to go play video games." He threw his hands into the air. "And he did that without even having to think about it before we went out to LA."

"There is something really wrong with him," Logan said under his breath. He lifted his head and spoke louder. "Remember that day before we left when we were playing volleyball and Kendall had to leave to get Katie?"

"Yeah," Carlos shrugged. "What about it?"

"Well, I think that something may have happened," Logan said slowly. "I don't think that he really got into a fight with a guy that made a comment about our band."

James stopped walking and held out his arm, holding it front of Logan's chest. Logan stopped walking and Carlos stopped as well, the three of them standing in a small circle. "So what are you saying?" James asked in a low voice. "That something happened to Kendall?"

"I'm saying that I don't completely buy the fact that Kendall got into a fight," Logan said slowly. "He got hurt, obviously, but I don't think it was for the reasons he said. Besides," Logan shrugged. "You know just as well as I do that Kendall is a terrible liar." He thought for a moment. "I don't know what's happening exactly, but I do know that there is something that he is hiding from us."

"Like what?" Carlos asked, his brown eyes widening even further.

"Well." Logan paused, licking his lips. "Have you ever heard of Kendall and his mom getting into fights so badly before? Yes, there were some things that they haven't agreed on and that would be resolved in like, two-point-five seconds. But now she seems to be permanently stressed and I've never heard of Kendall having to lie to Mama Knight just so he could get out of the house. Especially since she never really grounds us."

"So you're saying that Mama Knight is doing something to Kendall?" James asked.

"No," Logan felt a little annoyed. He wasn't sure if he was annoyed at himself for briefly having the thought, Kendall for not telling them what was going on, or the whole situation in general. "I'm just saying that…I don't know what I'm saying." He admitted.

"Maybe he's just bummed with everything that happened at Dak's party," Carlos suggested. "And what cheers him up better than all of the money in the world?"

"Hockey," James and Logan replied in unison.

"Exactly," Carlos agreed. "So why don't we have a guy's day and go to a hockey game. We can do that now. It'll get Kendall's mind off of things and maybe we can hang out like we used to do at the PalmWoods."

"That's a good idea," James agreed. "I'll go check out some tickets online and then we can figure out what to do from there." He reached out and clapped Carlos and Logan on the back before putting his arms around their shoulders. "You'll see, after the guys' trip Kendall will be back to his old self."

_I hope…_

* * *

**A/N:** Of course things would get worse for Kendall. I'll update again soon.

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	9. Chapter 9

"You want to go fishing?" Kendall stood in the doorway to his house, rubbing his arms as he lightly bobbed up and down. He looked at Carlos, who was grinning and nodding back at him, and raised an eyebrow. "You do realize its winter right?"

"We can go ice fishing!" Carlos insisted, undaunted.

"Have you ever been ice fishing?"

"No, but there's a first time for everything."

Kendall reached up and rubbed his forehead, slightly wondering why Carlos was so adamant about waking him up so early. He had gone to Kendall's window, grabbed a giant snowball, and threw it at his window. Kendall practically shot out of bed like a cannon out of a canon ball from fright. He went over to the window and looked out to see Carlos waving at him like crazy. Now here he was, standing on Kendall's front porch, telling him how he, James, and Logan wanted to go on a guy's trip.

"Wouldn't it make more sense if we went snowboarding or something?" Kendall asked, rubbing his eyes. He was a little more awake now. "At least that way we know what we're doing and there's less of a chance for us to die."

"Well," Carlos paused for a moment. "Yeah, I guess that _is_ a better idea." He frowned slightly, but smiled a second later. That was one of the many things that Kendall liked about Carlos, he ever let setbacks keep him down for too long. "So, do you want to go?"

"When are we going?" Kendall tilted his head to the side as he thought for a moment. "I mean, I'm going to have to get some time off of work." He thought for a minute and then smirked. "Though with all of the fans that have been camping out there, I might be off of work for the rest of the time that we're here."

"That'd be awesome!" Carlos said excitedly. "Then we can hang out all break like we planned." He suddenly frowned as he looked at Kendall seriously. "Was your mom mad when she found out that you lied about having plans with us?" Kendall winced. "I mean, if you had told us sooner, than we would have known to go on with the lie and-"

"Don't worry about it," Kendall smiled but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "It was my fault anyway. Not yours. So don't beat yourself up about it."

Carlos's frown then wilted into a pout. Kendall was keeping something from him, that much was obvious. Thought the other guys would say that Carlos was very dense or was so energetic that he didn't notice many things, he always noticed when his friends weren't acting like they normally did. For one, he had never known Kendall to lie to his mother about anything, and for two, he had never seen Kendall as serious as he was then, not even when he and Jo broke up and the Jennifers were taunting him about it.

"Is everything okay, Kendall?"Carlos asked.

He asked the one question that Kendall absolutely hated.

Alarms went off in Kendall's head. Did he know? Or was he just asking the question? Carlos always asked that question when he saw someone. He had some sort of uncanny sense about knowing when something was off about someone, but that was usually chalked up to the fact that he was so sensitive that he was empathetic with everyone. But Kendall also knew that Carlos wasn't stupid. He vaguely wondered if Logan and James sent Carlos over to talk to him.

_It would make sense _Kendall looked down at his socked feet, moving them over top of each other, suddenly remembering that he was still standing in the doorway and that he had not invited Carlos in. (Not that any of the boys needed inviting anyway, they usually just barged into each other's houses without warning). _Logan usually doesn't like confrontation, so he would send someone else to talk. James knows that we would probably get into a fight if he came and talked with me, so it makes sense that they would send Carlos._

With every breath, every second that passed, Kendall felt more and more uncomfortable and self conscious.

"Uh sure," Kendall said meekly. "I'm fine."

"Anything in particular on your mind?" Carlos asked, with a strange tone in his voice.

Was it a hint of concern?

Kendall wasn't sure, but he knew that he had to get Carlos out of there as soon as possible or he was going to crack. "No," Kendall lied, "just regular, run of the mill thoughts, you know me. If there's ever a time there was actually something wrong with _me_ I think I'd die of shock." He hoped Carlos couldn't tell he was lying.

"Well," If he did think Kendall was lying he didn't let it on as he spoke at last, "If you're sure..."

"I'm sure," Kendall said confidently. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them to get some warmth into his fingers. "A trip to go snowboarding, when were you guys planning on going? Like I said, I need to get some time off-"

"What happened?" Carlos interrupted Kendall. He reached out and lightly poked Kendall's forehead, where a dark purple bruise was forming. Kendall winced at the touch as it sent a shooting pain through his body.

He thought quickly. "Oh, when I was at work, these fans managed to get into the store." He gave a smile as if it was going to be the funniest story in the world. "And they chased me around; I was trying to get away from them and looked over my shoulder to be sure that they weren't catching up. Turned back around and _bam_-"Kendall slapped his hands together. "I bashed my head on a low hanging shelf."

Carlos laughed.

"Yeah, it wasn't that funny when it happened," Kendall said, lightly rubbing his forehead. He looked at his watch. "So, yeah, get Logan and James and let me know when you guys decide when we're going and we'll go." He moved for the door to go back inside.

Carlos jumped, suddenly noticing that Kendall wanted him to leave. On one hand, he was really hurt, since he had never been kicked out like that before, but on the other hand, he understood that Kendal wanted his privacy. And if he was going to talk about whatever was bothering him (Carlos was sure that something was going on) he wanted Kendall to come talk to him, not have I be shoved out of him.

"I'll – uh – let you go back to now –"Carlos said as he started to back down the front walkway, his hands up in front of him. "Sorry for waking you up, Kendall. Really." He stuttered.

Kendall watched as Carlos turned on his heel and walked off down the street.

_Kendall liked parties; he liked being able to let loose of that 'good boy' image that he had to uphold for Big Time Rush and to actual have fun. It was at those parties that he would finally be able to act like a teenage boy and get in some trouble. He liked parties, but he wasn't the kind of guy that was going to get super wasted and not remember anything from the night before. He knew how to have a good time without it having to go too crazy._

_It was the loud roar of the partiers that bothered him the most about them, though. Sure, the music was playing so loudly he could feel the bass under his feet, but it didn't help that everyone reverted to screaming at each other to be heard rather than move closer to the person they were talking to and try and listen that way. He supposed that he was having a good time. He and Dak had talked for a while when he and the other guys had arrived at his large mansion for the party, then he had gone and found Guitar Dude and talked with him for a while. But before he knew it, he found himself relaxing on the sofa for most of the night, watching people. Most people that knew him didn't know that he enjoyed a round of people watching every now and them. James was definitely enjoying himself more than Kendall was, and he was surprised to find that even Carlos and Logan, who was probably the most insecure of the four of them, seemed to be having a great time. It was Logan that tried to talk to them out of going to the party in the first place, but he somehow had agreed to go along with them. _

_Kendall's face was in his palms the second James sat down on the couch next to him, a plastic red cup in his hand._

_"Dude, you having fun?" James leaned towards Kendall, shouting over the music._

_"I'm just tired, man," Kendall replied. James patted him on the back before taking another large gulp of whatever was in his cup._

_"Aren't you going to have a drink?" James then asked, holding his cup out to Kendall and lightly shaking it back and forth. The contents of the cup sloshed dangerously close to the edges of the cup as he moved it._

_"I don't know," Kendall replied. "It's not my thing, and besides, my mom…or my sister for that matter, would kill me if they smelled it on my breath when we got back to the crib."_

_"Ah, I have a surefire plan against that," James said, his eyebrows rising and lowering. "Peanuts," he said with a nod. "Logan told me, that if you eat peanuts after you drink, the smell with be gone from your breath."_

_"Yeah, but your balance will be totally gone," Kendall reminded his friend. "As it usually does when you drink." Kendall shook his head. _

_He had never really found him or any of the other guys to be drinkers, but…part of him was realistic and knew that James would be the one out of the four of them to do it. He always seemed to be the kind of person to do something for attention and have it come naturally to him. Kendall, on the other hand, he just acted like himself and stuck to his morals and people like him for that. His fierce loyalty was what caused him to be labeled as a 'bad boy' as he would do literally anything for his friends. But if they knew what James did, then he was sure that the label would move onto him._

_It was ironic, really._

_The guys tried hard to show the public and their fans what they were really like, but it was their image that kept them from truly being themselves._

_"Whatever dude," James nudged him again. "At least I'm having fun."_

_"I'm having fun," Kendall insisted. "I'm just starting to get really tired." His eyes moved around the room anxiously._

_James immediately noticed and sobered up for a minute. "Does this have to do with Jo?" He asked. "And how she's back at the PalmWoods?" He studied Kendall's face and while he was able to keep his face clear, his eyes gave him away completely. His eyes were always so expressive that he couldn't hide anything, it also didn't help that Kendall was a terrible liar. "You guys are broken up, you guys are friends, I don't see why you are being so awkward about it."_

_"I'm not the one that's being awkward," Kendall defended himself. "We broke up when she went to New Zealand and she came back and that's it. Nothing happened after that and she, like, refuses to talk with me normally. So if anyone has a problem, it's her."_

_"Are you sure about that?" James pressed._

_"Yes!" Kendall threw his hands into the air. "I don't have feeling for Jo anymore, seriously. You can be friends with a girl-"_

_"But wasn't it you that said that you can't be friends with a girl after you broke up with them?" James interrupted. Kendall vaguely remembered saying that in an interview; he definitely had said that and he believed it whole heartedly. But it sucked having it thrown back into his face. "Well?"_

_"I'm gonna go to the bathroom and then we should get out of here," Kendall changed the subject as he got to his feet. _

_James shrugged and went back to drink whatever was in his cup as Kendall moved to leave the large living room. He hoped no one was in the bathroom; the house was completely filled, so he didn't think that he was going to get that lucky. Kendall sighed as a grinding couple moved in front of him and he turned to go another way. He spotted Jo, Camille, and Stephanie dancing with each other and he watched them for a moment before darting into the kitchen._

_"Hey Dude," Jett greeted him with a smile and a slap on the shoulder. "What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost."_

_"No, I'm just…tired," Kendall started to feel annoyed having to say that so much. "I was planning on heading home."_

_"But the party's just getting started," Jett said. "You need to loosen up a little bit." He put his arm around Kendall's shoulders. "Come with me, I know just the thing."_

Kendall closed the door and leaned against it, resting the back of his head against the cool metal. He couldn't blame anyone for what happened, it was all an accident. But as soon as people started to point fingers, it all went back to him, just because he just so happened to be there at the time. That's when everything started to fall apart. It was months later and things were still going badly for him.

He knew that he was hiding it the best that he could for now.

But at some point, he was going to crack.

And when he did, he wasn't sure who was still going to be there for him.

"Kendall?" Mrs. Knight walked down the stairs, wrapping her robe over her pajamas and tightening the belt. She looked at her son with concern as she studied him. "Kendall, sweetie, are you ok? Why are you up so early?"

Kendall shrugged. "I couldn't sleep," he replied. It wasn't a lie exactly, Carlos had woken him up early and as soon as he was awake, he was hardly ever able to get back to sleep. "Did I wake you up?"

"No, I couldn't sleep either," Mrs. Knight replied as she stepped up to her son. She reached up and lightly caressed his cheek, running her thumb back and forth across his skin before wrapping her arms around his waist in a hug.

Kendall stood there for a moment before wrapping his arms around his mother's shoulders and hugged her back. He could feel her apology even though she didn't say it out loud. The pressure of fame was getting to both of them and they were having a hard time dealing with it. So he dealt with it in his own way and she dealt with it in her own way. She was still his mother and that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

"Things are going to get better," Mrs. Knight finally said. "They may be pretty rocky right now, but I know that things are going to get better. You're an amazing person and nothing can change that. I'm always going to be there to support you; I don't want you to forget that. I'll always be there for you, Katie, and the boys, to watch you do whatever you set your mind to." She tilted her head back to look up at her son, her green eyes pleading with his. "You know that, right?"

"Yes, Mom."

* * *

**A/N:** Alright, here's another update for you guys; sorry it was kind of short, I'm getting used to being back in school again. I plan on this story being 15 chapters long, but if people want me to do more, I might do more. I hope you guys liked the update; you'll see Miss. Collins again in the next chapter.

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	10. Chapter 10

"Alright Kendall," Tara Collins crossed her legs and adjusted her laptop screen in front of her. She rested back against the pillows that were on her couch before picking up a notepad that she had sitting beside her. "A card is drawn randomly from a deck of ordinary playing cards." She lifted her head and looked at her computer screen to be sure that Kendall was still paying attention to her. He nodded, his pencil twirling around his fingers as he waited for the rest of the math question. "You win $10 if the card is a spade or an ace. What is the probability that you will win the game? "

Kendall thought for a moment and Miss. Collins could see the slight panic move over his face. The two of them had been working on math; probability and statistics, for a little over a hour now. He was starting to get the hang of it and was sure that Kendall could get it on his own. But she knew that there was something off about him. He didn't seem as enthusiastic as he usually was; even if he wasn't in the mood to do homework, he usually greeted her with a smile. But when he got onto the computer this time, he wasn't smiling in the slightest. He had bags under his eyes, his eyes didn't light up at all, even when she asked him about hockey, and he looked like he was going to pass out at any second.

But when she asked him about how he was feeling, he just said that things were fine and got right down to doing work. That was also strange, Kendall Knight didn't do his school work unless he knew that Logan was there to help him or that he was actually being forced to do it. The only time she had ever seen him do it willingly was when Gustavo threatened not to let him go to Coachella _or _SXSW if he didn't get them in on time.

_Well, he's being threatened with not being able to perform, _Miss. Collins reminded herself. _So that must be what this is coming to as well. He must want to perform just as badly as he says he does. _She cleared her head and turned back to Kendall, who was still twirling his pencil in his hands. "C'mon, Kendall, you know this. What are the things that you know to help you answer this problem?" She urged him.

Kendall thought for a moment. "All right," he finally sighed, leaning over slightly so he could start to figure out the problem in his notebook. "We know that I'm looking for at least one spade, so we can make that be represented by 'S'."

"Good," Miss. Collins urged him.

"And then we have the chance that the space is an ace, so we'll let A represent that," Kendall continued. "You'll will win 'the game'" he put quotes around the words. "If any of those two happen. So, I'm looking for the probability of both of those things happen."

"Right." Miss. Collins started to smile. "Go on."

"So," Kendall sighed again. "I'm looking for the probability of both events combined." He wrote something down on his notebook. "There are 52 cards, total in a deck of cards. And adding up all of the spades, there are thirteen of them. So that's thirteen out of 52 right there." He wrote something else down. "And then there are four aces so then that's four out of 52, and one of those aces is a spade, so you subtract one of those." He started to look a little excited. "So adding that all together, thirteen out of 52 and then four out of 52, minus one out of 52 is equal to sixteen out of 52." He thought for a moment. "Which can be factored down to four of thirteen or a 30% chance that I will win that $10 dollars."

"Yes, that's it!" Miss. Collins cried, a large grin spreading onto her face. "I knew that you could do it!"

He laughed lightly. "That's definitely not enough for me to take the bet, but good enough for me to try and convince _Carlos_ to do it."

Miss. Collins laughed along with him, pushing her blonde hair out of her face. "Well, if you're going to try it, make sure that he doesn't realize that it's the same kind of problems he's doing for math class. That way he won't freak out that people actually _do _use it in real life."

"I'll keep that in mind, Miss. Collins," Kendall agreed. His smiled waned for a second. He looked away from Miss. Collins, seeming to focus on something off screen. Miss. Collins had never seen him look so sad before, it almost made her want to start crying. He looked completely broken.

"Thanks for agreeing to help me with this." He said quietly. "It seems like lately that it's the only thing that I can do, right."

"Well you're a bright boy, Kendall," Miss. Collins said gently. "I could see that from the first day that I met you. You just need to learn how to focus and to remember that not everything has to be fun." She said with a knowing smile.

Kendall laughed again. "Yeah, you're right." He looked at his watch. "I guess I'll see you next time, then."

"Bye, Kendall," Miss. Collins waved before exiting out of Skype.

She closed her laptop and leaned over, gently placing it on the floor. She sat on the couch, thinking for a few moments, before running her hands over her face, yawning slightly. She then stood up and left the living room, going up the stairs to her room, finding her husband sitting on their bed, watching TV. He looked up, seeming to notice her distress as she entered the room.

"What's wrong, Tara?" He asked her.

"I'm tired of seeing Kendall like this, Craig," Miss. Collins replied as he walked over to the bed. "I know that there's something wrong with him…I can't stand to watch him be like this.

"I know, but what can you do about it?" Mr. Collins replied gently. "All you're doing is going off a hunch, we don't know if something is really going on."

"But I to do something!" Miss. Collins tried not to shout. Her little kids were sleeping in the room next door, she didn't want to wake them up, she didn't want them to worry.

"It's not like you can walk right up to his mother and be like, 'Listen bitch, you better treat your son with respect'" Mr. Lanyard said jokingly, trying to diffuse the situation.

There was a brief moment of silence.

Miss. Collins looked back at him thoughtfully. "That's an idea." She said quietly.

Mr. Collins studied his wife. Having been married to her for so long, he knew whenever she had her mind made up, but this was ridiculous. It was like he had said before, she didn't know what was going on. No one did. Jumping to conclusions with no proof could just make things worse. "You can't Tara, just think about the consequences if you're wrong." He reminded her.

"But I have to do something," Miss. Collins walked across the room to her dresser, where she had her purse sitting in a chair. "I can't just sit by and think I'm wrong and then end up being right." She picked out her phone and started to dial Mrs. Knight's phone number. She had all of her students' parents' phone numbers in case of an emergency or if she had to talk to them about their kids' failing grades.

_It's ironic that that' show everything started in the first place. _Miss. Collins waited for the phone to be picked up.

"Hello?" She heard Mrs. Knight pick up.

"Hello, Jennifer?" Miss. Collins asked, just to be sure.

"This is she," Mrs. Knight replied.

"Yes, it's Tara Collins." Miss. Collins looked up and waved a hand at her husband. He got the hint and lifted the remote, muting the TV. He replaced the remote on the bed and rested his hands on his stomach as he leaned back against the pillows, looking over at his wife. "I was hoping that I could speak with you for a second."

"Sure," Mrs. Knight replied. "Is this about Kendall? How's he doing with his work? He never talks about it."

"Actually, Jennifer, Kendall is what I wanted to talk about," Miss. Collins said firmly. She looked over at her husband before taking a deep breath to continue. Mrs. Knight had been quiet the whole time, waiting for Miss. Collins to continue. "Mrs. Knight…I would like to talk to you about something very serious."

"Yes?" Mrs. Knight prompted.

"I couldn't help but notice erratic behavior with your son in the past few months and then right before you left. His plunging grades was already worrying me, but thinking about how he's been acting as well as seeing some questionable things lately-"

"What sort of questionable things?" Mrs. Knight asked sharply. Miss. Collins could understand her frustration. There were all sorts of things it could be. Her son was part of a band that was getting bigger by the day, what she was going to ask could be tame compared to what gossip sites could have been telling her about her son and his friends' private lives.

"Well, I couldn't help but notice that, while I've been working with Kendall, some days he has had some sort of bumps, or cuts, or bruises, and I-" She began to say.

Mrs. Knight swiftly cut Miss. Collins off. "What are you accusing me off?" She said in an aggravated voice.

Miss. Collins started to pace the room. She shot a glance over at her husband. _This was a bad idea. _She started to think about what to say. But nothing that she thought of seemed like it would make anything better. "No…nothing. I'm just curious-" She tried to say.

"Listen," Mrs. Knight said firmly. "I'm only asking you to help my son keep his grades up, not poke into our private lives and question my parenting skills or lack thereof. Stay out of our business, alright?" She hung up the phone before Miss. Collins could answer.

"Well, that could have gone better," Miss. Collins said as she slowly hung up her cell phone, dropping it back into her purse. She turned to her husband. "I swear to god something's wrong." She pointed to her heart. "I feel it right here."

"Then, maybe you should get someone to check it out," Mr. Collins suggested, looking torn. "But only if you're absolutely sure."

"I am," Miss. Collins walked back across the room and climbed up onto the bed. She looked confused. "But why would this only be happening to Kendall and not Katie?" She then looked concerned. "Do you think that Katie knows?" She continued before Mr. Collins could answer. "Probably not, she might have said something. She doesn't act like she would know either."

"Honey," Mr. Collins reached out and patted his wife's hand. "I know that you're trying to help them. But at this point, I think that you're grasping at straws. Why don't you get a good night's sleep and we can talk about this in the morning?" He lifted the remote again and turned on the TV.

Miss. Collins turned to the TV and rolled her eyes as she stretched out across the bed as well. _Of course. A football game. Men and their sports, nothing can come between them._

But for Kendall it seemed like nothing could come between him and the love that he had for his mother.

* * *

**A/N:** Miss. Collins's class refers to her as 'Miss' so even though she's married, I'll keep calling her 'Miss'. Well, five chapters left and because there are only five left, that means that things are going to have to come to a head at some point….

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	11. Chapter 11

Mrs. Knight was washing some dishes in the sink when she heard the doorbell ring. She turned off the water and shook her hands out before grabbing a dishtowel, moving to answer the door. Katie had gotten there first, and had already opened the door when she appeared in the foyer. The man that stood in the doorway turned his gaze away from Katie and gave Mrs. Knight a pleasant, if not forced, smile.

"Hello Mrs. Knight," he greeted her as she walked up behind Katie, lightly resting her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "My name is Richard Moorlan from the Family Service Agency. There was a report filed with suspicions of abuse within this household. I just wanted to come in and ask a few questions to verify or falsify the report,"

Mrs. Knight looked down, noticing Katie's confused glance up at her. Mrs. Knight tried not to let her frustration show. She knew that Katie knew everything the man said, she watched enough TV to know about almost every legal matter that could come to your family. She looked away from Katie and back to Mr. Moorlan

"Well, sure, I guess," she said, as hospitable as ever. She took a step ack. "Come on in," Mrs. Knight looked confused as she closed the door behind him.

"Thank you, ma'am," Mr. Moorlan said as he walked into the house. "I assure you I will only take a few moments of your time."

"Katie, why don't you go to your room and get some homework done," Mrs. Knight said to Katie. Katie looked like she wanted to protest, but a stern look from her mother sent her running upstairs. But knowing that something was wrong, she didn't go to her room, she sat at the top of the steps, listening.

"What is this about Mr. Moorlan?" Mrs. Knight asked as she sat down on the couch. Mr. Moorlan optioned to sit in the armchair across from her. He cleared his throat as he crossed his legs at the knee, getting right down to business.

"Well, like I said, someone filed a report claiming abuse to your son, Kendall Knight." Mr. Moorlan said in a serious tone, looking right at Mrs. Knight. He had done this many times before he could recognize the looks that flashed over people's faces before they tried to deny it. He had seen it all. "They claimed to have seen several bruises on his body and suspect more as well as the fact of his dwindling grades and how he hasn't been acting like his personality would suggest." He cleared his throat under Mrs. Knight's hard stare and continued, crossing his legs the other way now. "I was assigned to your son's case and I just came to ask a few questions and set up an appointment for your son to be checked out by a doctor in order to verify the injuries claimed by the report."

"Okay," Mrs. Knight gave a short nod. "The doctor thing is fine, he plays hockey so it would be nice to know if there are any injuries that I don't know about." She said calmly, though there was a distinct lack of warmth in her voice. Her tone was a cold as steel and it wasn't lost on Mr. Moorlan. "But, I have never hit either of my children, I can promise you that." She then dropped her cool demeanor to give a light, airy laugh. "I do lose it sometimes, I mean, my kids are teenagers, they're bound to drive you crazy every once in a while." She paused shaking her head for a second. "But I've never hit them."

"As long as you agree to the doctor's examination," Mr. Moorlan said as he slowly leaned forward, uncrossing his legs. He rested his arms on his thighs, studying Mrs. Knight closely. "I think you've volunteered the information I need." Mr. Moorlan stood and held his hand out.

Mrs. Knight stood as well and shook his hand politely. "Thank you for stopping by," She said.

"I appreciate your time Mrs. Knight. Goodbye," Mr. Moorlan walked out the door and down the walkway to his car.

"Mom?" Katie hurried back down the stairs and over to her mother, who hand one hand resting on her lower back, the other resting on her forehead. "Mom, what's going on? What did that man want?" She gave her mother a pleading look, begging to know. But Mrs. Knight merely shook her head in reply.

"Oh it was nothing" She replied before reaching out and caressing her daughter's cheek. "Nothing you need to worry about." She gave a soft smile. "Do you know when Kendall and the boys are supposed to get back from snowboarding?" She asked.

"No," Katie shook her head. "Why?"

"I was just curious."

* * *

**A/N:** Two things, I decided that the story is going to end at 12 chapters, so there's one more to go. Then next one will be long to make up for the short chapters as well as to tie everything up. (Sorry that came up so quickly, but I realized I couldn't draw the plot out for another five). Also, I put up a new story cover that I hope you guys like! :)

There might be a sequel to this story, btw and I might re-write the whole story to make it longer and to draw it out a bit more. I only started this idea because I realized that no one had done it before and I think I could do it better.

Anyone, one chapter left.

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	12. Chapter 12

"Do you think that we have some time to take a few more runs before we go back?" Kendall asked, taking a long sip of his steaming hot chocolate. He licked the warm mustache off of his upper lip as he looked at Carlos, James, and Logan, who were sitting at the table across from him.

The four of them were sitting in the lodge after a long day of snowboarding. It was the most fun that he had in a long time. Part of him felt badly because he had gotten out of the house before his mother could potentially stop him. He needed the time to let loose and to have some fun. So as soon as he had gotten into Carlos's family's mini-van he had started to feel his spirits lift. He was nothing but a ball of energy on the mountain, going down and coming back up to do it over again much faster than the other boys were moving. Even they couldn't miss his newfound happiness.

"Aren't you tired yet?" Carlos asked with a light groan, stretching his arms above his head. "My body hasn't hurt this badly since we first started training with Gustavo."

"That wasn't training," Logan reminded him. "That was torture."

"Whatever."

"You guys are seriously slowing me down," Kendall teased with a light smile before pushing his now empty mug away from him. "We used to stay on the slopes until dark and then not come home until it was nearly our curfew." He looked at the three and shook his head. "What happened to you?"

"We became a really famous band that had fans following us everywhere and Mom's that want us back for our curfew," James replied, pretending to think about it. "And trust me when I say, if I miss curfew again, my mom is going to kill me."

"It wasn't my fault," Carlos said when he noticed James's stare. "_You _were the one that suggested that we go to the mall." He threw his hands up into the air. "How was I supposed to know that we would get bombarded by fans?"

"Common sense?" Logan guessed, causing Kendall to laugh and Carlos to pout. Loan hesitated, lightly tapping his hands on the sides of his mug. "Kendall?" He asked gently. "How come you don't really want to go home?" He asked.

Kendall gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?" He asked.

"All day today," Logan sat up straight in his chair, looking Kendall right in the eye. "Whenever one of us would suggest that we head back home, you would immediately try and keep us here." He shrugged. "If it wasn't for the fact that I know you have a really stubborn streak, I would think that something's wrong." He lowered his voice on the last part, the same way he always did when he knew something was up and he was trying to get the other person to admit it.

Kendall knew that game, he practically invented it. Now seeing it used against him pissed him off more than he could say. But he knew that he couldn't act on his anger or else the guys would use it to pry their way into knowing what was really going on. On one hand, he wasn't sure how much they knew, but on the other, he knew that they knew a lot if he was practically asking him right then and there.

Kendall opted to give a smile and shake his head. "Is it a crime to want to hang out with you guys?" he asked. "I mean, I've been at home or work basically the whole time we've been here-"

"And that was your choice," Logan said gently. "Since you could have easily come and hung out, but you decided not to."

Kendall's smile faded. He was stuck in a corner. "Whatever." He shrugged, his stubbornness coming into play. "I just had stuff to do. Chill, it's no big deal."

"We just couldn't help but notice that you've been acting strange since the party at Dak's house," Carlos said slowly, watching Kendall. Kendall merely looked back at him before looking over at James, who took the opportunity to look down into his own cup of hot chocolate which was starting to cool down. "You know that what happened to Jett wasn't your fault." He insisted.

"Yeah, but everyone else seems to think so," Kendall said bitterly with a shrug. "And it's only a matter of time until you believe it yourself."

"So _that's _what this is about," Logan said, more of a statement than an observation or a question. He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "Kendall, Jett was drunk. He fell and hit his head. It was an accident and he's fine. He's out of the hospital now and he doesn't blame you for anything."

"Yet that still doesn't stop the rumors, the whispers, the comments and," Kendall gave a barking, sarcastic laugh. "The disappointment." Bitterly, he turned his head away. The four of them stayed silent for a long time, neither of them moving to leave or say anything. Kendall gave an annoyed growl and turned back to the guys. "I mean, just because I just so happened to be standing there when they found us, I'm automatically the bad guy. Just because we didn't get along very well when we first met doesn't mean that I would want to do something like that. But did anyone care? Not really. Not even when things were cleared. I mean, it was my fault, if you think about it. I was the one that talked you guys into going to Dak's party, even though we hadn't talked to him since our first concert. I thought it would be cool. James, you were drunk, and that's my fault since I didn't stop you. Carlos was on a sugar high and Logan was the one that called the police. We weren't together at all that night, except when James was talking to me about Jo, and then I wandered around and ran into Jett. We went outside to talk and he apologized for everything that went on between us because his publicist wanted him to keep his popularity since the ratings for New Town High started to drop at that point.

"I didn't even care anymore, things were going really great for us and nothing could take that away from me. So forgiving him was the least of my problems. Unlike most people would think I actually did forgive him. He's not a jerk at all; just someone that cares about is career. So we started talking and we were kicking a random soccer ball back and forth, getting into a good game of it. Next thing I know he trips over the ball and falls hard to the ground, hitting his head. Of course there just so happened to be a rock where he fell and the force of the fall on said rock caused him to cut his head open. I bent down to see if I could help him and, as clichéd as it sounds, got blood on my hands. When I stood up, I heard nothing but screaming and looked up to see people running outside. Some people were shouting at me, asking why I pushed Jett and me guess since so many people were drunk and they didn't see everything, they thought that it looked like I pushed him. But I didn't.

"Logan, I remember you coming outside to call the police. Next thing I know, I'm sitting in the station being questioned and being accused of pushing Jett to the ground. Then Mom came and took me home. Of course as you guys know, Jett came to and said to and said it was an accident, that he was drunk and that he fell. But that didn't stop the rumors from going around. Some of our fans started to say that I pushed him; people that I thought cared about us no matter what. And then there were the people in the PalmWoods, media sites, I started to get calls from people back home that I hadn't talked to in years. And my Mom and Katie started to get calls and started to have things being said about them online. I swear to god, I couldn't take it anymore. But I put on a brave front, like usual. By the time things started to die down, no one wanted to believe that I would do something so terrible. But the damage was already done and I was already a disappointment."

At this point, Kendall had started to silently cry. He didn't even notice though; the tears fell down his cheeks silently as he bitterly told his story.

"Now I know that there are people out there, some closer than we think, that won't believe anything I say, no matter how many times the truth is told." He clenched his hands into tight fists. The blood moved out of his hands and his knuckles turned white, his fists shaking. "I'm going to be nothing but a disappointment to them."

James listened in silence. He had no idea that his friend had been hurting for so long. But he also knew that this wasn't the whole story. He seemed to be so hung up on the disappointment thing, which was strange for him. Gustavo constantly said that the dogs were disappointments to him, but Kendall could care less what Gustavo thought. Katie could insult them in so many ways and Kendall wouldn't care about that either, knowing that his sister was nothing but proud of him and was just hiding her true feelings in fear of going soft. That left one option and it was the only thing that he wished wasn't true.

"Kendall," James said slowly. "Does this have to do with your Mom?" Kendall's eyebrows lowered as he looked over at James, but he didn't say anything. "I know that this is going to be a hard question to hear, but I want you to answer me." He licked his lips. "Is Mama Knight hurting you?"

Kendall's hands immediately dropped from being fists and he looked away. "Don't be ridiculous!" He snorted.

"It's not ridiculous," Logan spoke up. "Things like this are more common than we would think or want to know. But no one talks about it." He continued as Kendall turned his glare to the smart one. "Take Julianne Hough for example or Tyler Perry. They were abused as kids but didn't admit to it until-"

"I'm _not_ being abused," Kendall said in a harsh whisper.

"Then explain the bruises," Carlos said sharply, causing Kendall to immediately close his mouth." The first time you got hit, you told Logan you got into a fight and was hit in the face. How do you explain all of the bruises that you got while we were here? Did you get into fights with other people?"

"Fans attacked me," Kendall said quietly.

"If that were the case, we would have heard about it seconds after it happened," James reminded Kendall. "Either through you, Mama Knight, Katie, or the internet. But we haven't heard anything."

Kendall stayed silent.

"Dude, we're not blaming you for anything-"

"It sounds like it," Kendall interrupted.

"It was an _accident_," Carlos insisted. "The fact that people are still blaming you for it is ridiculous. The fact that your mom-"

"She's not-"Kendall tired to say.

"-Is hitting you and blaming you for this-"

"-Shut up-"

"-is ridiculous! If she is really that disappointed in you-"

"-Stop it-"

"-then it's because of her own insecurities, not because of what really happened!" Carlos concluded.

Kendall closed his eyes, brought his hands up to his face and slumped forward, resting against the table. His shoulders shook as he quietly sobbed. James, Logan, and Carlos moved over to his side of the table to give him a group hug, waiting for him to calm down. It was a release to Kendall, he was so scared of letting people down, or making his mother feel even worse that he didn't realize how bad he was getting. He was lying to his best friends to protect his mother, he was torn between his loyalty to her and his safety. He didn't know if she was ever going to get to that point with Katie and he was damned if he was ever going to actually let that happen. So he kept it a secret. But at what price? His own sanity? Pushing his friends away? Alienating everyone? Keeping secrets? Stewing in his own guilt? It wasn't worth it.

He was scared that the secret was now out, there was no doubt about it. He could tell that they knew as soon as Logan started the conversation. The only thing he hated about himself was that he was so emotional that he knew that when he was caught, he was caught and there was no denying it.

Kendall sniffed loudly as the tears continued to fall down his face. The only difference from crying alone, as he had done for a while, was that his friends were there for him as they always would be.

And for the first time in a long time, Kendall felt safe.

"What are you going to do?" Logan asked quietly, still rubbing Kendall's back.

"I don't know," Kendall replied, wiping off his eyes. "It's my Mom, you know. I've been protecting her since Dad left and now…god she's gonna hate me if I tell on her."

"No she won't," James said reassuringly. "If she's doing this to you, then there's something wrong with her and she needs help."

"Yeah, she needs help around the house, taking care of Katie, taking care of us when we're back home," Kendall shook his head. "And I've done nothing but disappoint her this whole time." He closed his eyes briefly. "God, I wish this never happened."

Carlos thought for a moment. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he rested his chin in his hands and looked glumly down at his feet. The other guys waited patiently for him to speak. "Ok," he said finally. "What if there was someone that you could tell, that could call the police anonymously?"

"I don't think that would help my guilt at the situation at all," Kendall replied honestly.

"But you can't just sit back and hope that things get better," Logan reminded him. "They could get worse and Katie might start to get hurt too." Kendall froze. "You wouldn't want that to happen would you?"

"No," Kendall whispered, shaking his head.

"Well, I know one person that you could call that could help you," Carlos continued. "And it's not Gustavo, Kelly, or our moms." He looked at Kendall earnestly. "But the one person that didn't try to punish you since you started acting weird and has just wanted to help you the whole time that you've needed it."

Kendall slowly nodded.

He knew exactly who Carlos meant.

Kendall took his cell phone out of his pocket and stared at it for a moment. "Guys," he lifted his head and look at his best friends, his brothers, each in the eye. "I love you" he said firmly.

"We love you too, Kendall," James replied.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Mrs. Knight demanded as soon as Kendall stepped through the front door of the house. He turned his bloodshot eyes away from him. He started to move by her, to go to his room, knowing that he wouldn't be able to stop himself if he started speaking. Mrs. Knight grabbed onto his arm, holding him still. "I'm talking to you!"

"I was out with the guys," Kendall muttered in reply, keeping his gaze to his feet. "We were snowboarding, remember?"

"You know the deal that we made, Kendall," Mrs. Knight said as she looked hard at her son. "You're supposed to call me when you're on your way back." She let go of Kendall's arm and took a couple of steps back. "I was worried sick about you all day."

"Really?" Kendall lifted his head to look at her.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes, really." She replied, impatiently. She looked at her feet and then gave Kendall a steely glare. "I got an interesting visit today," She said in a low voice. "It was some man from Family Service Agency."

Kendall's eyes widened and he quickly looked over his shoulder, when he turned back to his mother, he caught a glimpse of Katie sitting at the top of the stairs looking down at him. "I swear to god, Mom, I didn't say anything." He held up his hands. "I didn't know that someone was going to come by." He let out a cry as Mrs. Knight reached up and slapped him on the cheek.

Kendall heard Katie's light gasp.

"Do you think I believe that?" Mrs. Knight demanded. "You've been doing nothing but lie to me since the party!" She said. "You lied when you said that you were going to go bowling and you ended up there and then you were accused of hurting someone!"

"I didn't-"Kendall raised his arms to shield himself as his mother hit him again.

"And since then, you've done nothing but lie about your failing grades, what you've been doing, where you're going, and I don't know what else!" She hit Kendall again before giving him a sad look. "Do you know how I felt when I told the guys that I thought that you were supposed to be hanging out with them and they had no clue what you were talking about. You've done nothing but lie to me, how do I know you're not lying now?"

"I swear, I'm not!" Kendall pleaded.

"Mom!" Katie hurried down the stairs. "What are you doing? What's going on?"

"Katie, go back to your room!" Mrs. Knight demanded.

"But Mom-"

"Katie, go!" Kendall cried as he continued to back away from his mother.

"And just think about what you're doing to your sister!" Mrs. Knight whirled back around to face her son, nothing but disappointment and stress in her eyes. "Think about what you're doing to me. This acting out and everything is causing people to question us and the way that we live. Do you want that to keep happening?"

Kendall stayed silent as he looked at his feet.

"Do you not get that your actions affect me and your sister too?" Mrs. Knight asked, repeating herself from earlier. "Every decision you make does and your decision to go to that party ruined not only your reputation but mine and your sister's. I've already told you about how my parenting skills are being questioned. Do you know how much that hurts? How much stress I'm put under? I'm already taking care of you and Katie and the boys, all by myself because your father left. I need you to help me, Kendall, not hurt me."

Kendall looked at his mother, an unrecognizable look on his face. He looked weary as the sound of sirens got closer and closer before they finally stopped in front of their house. Through the front windows, Kendall, Mrs. Knight, and Katie could see flashing lights and hear car doors slam shut.

"What's that?" Katie asked, hearing footsteps approach their door.

"How could you?"

Mrs. Knight grabbed Kendall's attention with the one question. He opened his mouth to say that he was sorry, but he just turned his gaze to his feet. He couldn't say anything that would ever make her feel better about what was going on, not until she realized what she had been doing to her son, physically, mentally, and emotionally abusing him, was wrong.

He hoped she knew that.

"Kendall." Katie was crying now.

The doorbell rang and when nobody moved to answer it, it was opened by a police officer. Two more moved in behind the first one and started to go around the house, as if looking to see if there was anyone else that was there. The first officer moved over to Mrs. Knight, his hands on his hips.

"Jennifer Knight?" he questioned. She nodded. "You're under arrest for child abuse against your son, Kendall." Katie let out a cry and moved to Kendall's side, throwing her arms around his waist. Kendall hugged her back, silent tears falling down his cheeks as he closed his eyes. The officer turned his mother around and put her hands behind her back. "You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…" the officer put the handcuffs on Mrs. Knight's wrists and then turned her back around.

Kendall refused to look at her.

But if he had, he would have seen remorse in her eyes other than the disappointment he expected. She finally had everything crash down upon her, she knew what she had done was wrong, but she didn't know any other way to express how she was feeling. It was her problem and hers entirely. She was stressed from being a single mother and then being a single mother to five kids, four of which thrusted her into the spotlight. She made a bad decision. She knew that now. She just hoped that her son would forgive her for it. Kendall didn't open his eyes until he heard her getting walked out of the house. He then bent down and wrapped his arms around his sister and lifted her up balancing her against his own body, using one hand to wipe the tears off of her cheeks. He wasn't sure what was going to happen now, but he knew that he would be there to make sure that his sister was well cared for. He wanted her to know that nothing was her fault and that she wasn't to blame in anything that had gone on. He just wanted her to understand that stress could get the better of anyone, even someone that was as loving as their mother. But still, there was no one to blame.

"Things are going to be fine, Katie," he said, not believing the words himself. He turned and looked out the door, watching his mother's retreating form. Her head hung low, her red hair framing her face as she looked at her feet. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that he saw her shoulders shaking slightly.

"What's going to happen now, Kendall?" Katie asked quietly. "What's going to happen to Mom? What's going to happen to us?"

Kendall took a deep breath. "I don't know for sure," he said slowly. "But I promise that things are going to get better." Kendall watched his mother get led to a police car, his arms still around Katie.

Kendall always wanted to make his mother happy, even if it meant getting hurt himself.

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks so much for all of the favorites and the alerts and reviews. Like I had said before, I wrote this story because it was a random idea I had that I was sure no one else did and I wanted to get it out. I think I could have done it better, but I'm glad you all enjoyed it.

The only reason this story didn't have an entirely happy ending was for the same reason I didn't have a happy ending in _Fairy Tale Nightmare. _Not all stories have a happy ending and I thought it would be realistic that way.

I'll either re-write this later or make a sequel to it, so keep a look out on my page. Thanks so much for the support and I hope that you continue to enjoy my sister's and my future stories.

**-Cheers,**

**-Riley**


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